Stay together
by HopperIvashkinator
Summary: I have no idea how to summarize this for you, my first fanfiction. But, Sydney is locked away in the re-education centre. When she frees from the centre, she discover that everything isn t how she thought it would be. And of course, her problems is not finished yet. Beta reading by the lovely CherrySlushLover. And I appericite reviewes. AU story.
1. Trapped for real

_First of all, I`ve changed the story's name and I have removed the story and replaced it with a new one._  
_And secondly, thank you to my beta reader CherrySlushLover: you are absolutely amazing!_  
_And to everybody else, I hope you will enjoy this story because this is my first fanfic._

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**CHAPTER 1**

**Trapped for real****  
**

I woke up with a headache and an empty heart. I felt oddly restrained and looked weakly at my hands, wondering what the cause of my discomfort was. My hands were tied with handcuffs. They weren't just any handcuffs, they were handcuffs made specifically for people that were going to be re-educated. My throat tightened, I wanted to cry desperately but couldn`t bring myself to do it. I leaned my head against the wall behind me. Across the room was a large mirror. I still had the same white clothes, which I had been wearing for at least two weeks.

I moved up to take a closer look at how my body looked. It had become leaner, if I didn`t eat any more food for a few more weeks, I would probably die of hunger.

If he was here, he would have told me that I looked beautiful and I wouldn't have believed him.

Just two weeks ago, I was dragged out from my mission in Palm Springs and sent here. The question that burned in me was: who had turned me in? I knew it wasn't Zoe. It couldn't be, she got on well with the rest of the gang…

The door opened and when I turned, I saw the same alchemist man that had been questioning me for the past two weeks. This time, it was slightly different though. He asked me to come out with him. With one hand on my shoulder, I could do nothing but follow him out like a robot.

I expected to see something new when we left my holding cell, but everything was just the same. He opened another door and closed it behind him.

"Today Miss Sage, I'm going to ask you some different questions."

As he said it, I took a seat. He followed my example and sat down right in front of me.

"What comes to your mind when I mention Strigoi?" He asked me quietly, waiting for my answer.

I looked at him as if it was the most stupid question he's ever asked.

"I believe that they are the most mindless beasts to ever exist. They are disgusting. I do not understand how someone can create these monsters and I do not understand how they find joy in killing."

As I said this, he wrote it down and nodded whilst I muttered to myself.

"I wonder if they can live with drinking animal blood… "

He looked up at me.

"We don`t have time for our own theories, Miss Sage. Human blood or animal blood does not matter. They are still monsters right?"

I nodded quickly because I did agree with him- they were monsters.

"Over to the next question."

He asked me questions which I answered as honestly as possible, so that they would not believe that I still needed to stay.

But the next question broke me.

"Last question Miss Sage. What are your feelings for Jill Dragomir, Eddie Castile, Angeline Dawes and Adrian Ivashkov?"

This issue was something I had tried to avoid talking about. It was now or never; I had to answer right now. I suddenly forgot to think it through and answered honestly. I looked straight into his eyes before I said,

"I think Jill is a sweet Moroi who is strong enough to hold a bond. Eddie does a fantastic job by trying to keep her alive. Angeline will follow Eddie's footsteps gallantly. Adrian Ivashkov is the most beautiful man I've ever met. I love him."

Before he could say anything someone came rushing through the door.

Jared Sage, my dad. After him came two men. He stayed at the table and bored me with his chilling gaze while he was talking to him.

"John, it's good like that. I am taking over."

The alchemist who had asked me questions started to look a bit nervous.

"Jared, you know ..." Then my dad started staring at the Alchemist instead.

"I said I'll take over from here. Out now, get out of here!"

John took the Ipad that he always had with him and almost ran out. When the door closed behind him, I suddenly got a really bad feeling in my stomach. I knew there were alchemists who saw through the walls that were in the room and could hear everything. But what I didn`t know was that my dad was one of them. He gave me a disgusted look before he said,

"I will repeat the question that John just asked you in a shorter version. Are you in love with Adrian Ivashkov?"

I looked straight into his eyes when I said, "Yes."

He slapped me and I felt pain shoot where his hand connected with my cheek. Did my dad just slap me? I found that I wasn't shocked in the least by this revelation. I did have an unusual childhood and still had. Even thought I was eighteen, I didn't have the same rights as one.

"Enough."

I felt like crying again but couldn't bring myself to it. I just felt numb. The men looked uncertainly at Jared. He just turned and walked out with his dogs trailing behind him. Under my hair I could see a woman with the same brown eyes as my dad looking at me with a similar facial expression. Her charisma was respectful and pleased when she looked at my father. If I didn't know any better I would have said she was my dad's sister.

"Who are you?" I couldn`t help but ask.

"Hyper Sage, your aunt. I'm surprised that you don't know me."

From where I sat she looked really tall. And I wasn't surprised that Jared Sage could keep something like this away from his family.

'"No, I've never heard of you. Should I know you?"

"Hmm, I guess it's up to you if you want to know me or not." She replied mysteriously.

When she sat down in front of me, she picked up her mobile and began giving orders to someone. I didn`t hear what she said because I was in deep thoughts on my own. A second after she had finished her conversation, a woman came in with a sandwich and a glass of water. She placed the tray on the table and disappeared out the door. When we were alone again, we sat in silence and stared at each other. Then she sighed and nodded towards the tray with the meal.

"You should eat."

When I thought about protesting, she gave me a look that said,

'I know what you intend to do but you will not get away with it.'

Then it was my turn to sigh. I took the glass gently, and drank it in great gulps before I started to bite the sandwich. It didn`t taste great but I ate it anyway.

"What have you dragged yourself into Sydney? I've heard about your relationship with them."

They being vampires. I had already finished eating the sandwich and listened politely to her.

"If you just say that you don`t love Adrian ..."

That was when my patience ended.

"No, I still love him and they are fine too! Nothing can make me say I don't or stop me from loving him." I gestured to the room around me.

"I do not understand how this will help me!"

She looked patiently at me and started to stand up.

"Come back to the room with me."

I think she meant my cell. Back in the cell she said,

"I really feel sorry for you. Everything will only get worse. Sydney, this is nothing, you've crossed the line."

And with that, she walked out. By 'you've crossed the line', she meant that all alchemists who were trapped here always asked to come out and would do anything to get out. I couldn't say a simple sentence. I walked to my "bed" and collapsed on it. I didn`t notice how tired I was until my eyelids sealed shut.

In the dream, everything was black and I could hear someone calling my name. I recognized that voice but couldn`t put the finger on who it was exactly. Around me, the background just got a bit less blurry.

"Who's there?" I asked shakily.

"Sydney, it`s Lissa. Now tell me, where are you? There is something wrong with the dream." She sounded panicked and I felt suddenly panicked too.

"Oh ... Lissa you can`t come here! I'm in a re-reduction center. I don`t know anything else! Do not come looking for me."

I caught a glimpse of her before she disappeared and the dream began to fade.

"Sydney the dream is fading away. I don`t know what re-reduction is!"

I felt a twinge in the heart before the dream vanished altogether.

"You can`t look for me," was the last thing I said.

I felt my heart shatter all over again.

_**LISSA **_

"It worked." I said, surprised and tired. Adrian was the first person to turn his eyes towards me.

"What worked?" He asked. Even an aura reader didn't need to read it to see notice the way his face lit up with hope. I had heard that Adrian and Sydney had become very good friends. When he got here, I barely even recognised him.

Something I`ve learned through these past years is that we all change in some strange way. Rose came up to me and placed her hands on mine, clearly concerned. Christian wrapped his arms around my shoulders protectively. Both of them were worried.

"Is everything Ok Liss?" Rose asked.

"I… I talked to her but there was something wrong with the dream. She tried to turn it off all the time. I don't know how but… right! She said something about re-reduction." I said quickly.

I looked around and saw that all of my friends' faces were troubled and had no idea what that would be. Even I didn't know. Adrian pulled a frustrated hand through his hair and I could hear Jill whispering something quietly to him.

"I`ll see if I can try to reach her." He said, and was just on his way up, when a familiar face came through the door. Everyone went quiet. This was news that would enable us to start searching for her. I had a feeling about it.

"I know what re-eduction is."


	2. Confess for help

_This chapter is especially dedicated to my followers and those who reviewd, it really warmed up my heart thank you! :D_

_And thanks agian to my beta reader!_

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**Chapter 2  
**

**Confess for help**

She didn`t try to visit me agian; I sincerely wished that she wouldn't ever repeat that incident. When I woke up, I tried to convince myself that I had done the right thing when I told Lissa to not look for me. But why had she tried to reach me in a spirit dream? I had never met her before- I had only seen her at Sonya's wedding.

Rose must have told her about me because they were such close friends. But did Rose know that I had been taken away? Jill, Eddie, Angeline or Adrian must have reported that I was missing. But why had the dream been so weird and fuzzy?

I tried to push away those thoughts and thought of my mother instead. I wonder if she knew I was here. Or if my dad had lied to her. I missed her; I missed everybody I knew. I wondered how Carly was getting on with college. She was so brave and she wasn't afraid to speak out. I wondered for the umpteenth time what Zoe was doing too.

Time passed slowly and around the time that evening finally arrived someone came through the door. I scurried to the back of my bed and tried to make myself look as small as possible, but I knew if they questioned me about Adrian again, I wouldn't change my last statement in an way, shape, or form.

It was my dad and Zoe. I shouldn't have been so surprised that she was here. They came up to the, but didn't come too close, obviously afraid I would infect them with the same 'disease' I had. At first, all there was was silence, but then,

"How could you do this to us Sydney? How could you let down your family in this way?" My little sister said shakily. I could not answer the question. It was just too complicated. Everything was.

"How can you let me get stuck in here?" I retaliated.

"It's for your own good," came back the stupid reply. My dad said it coldly but seemed to be in a little better mood than the last time.

"It seems to be the only answer for those who are trapped."

I looked at Jared contemplating whether I should say what I was about to say. "Even for Marcus Finch- don`t you think so sir?"

No way I was going to call him dad and I don't think he wanted me to either. He seemed surprised when I mentioned the name though.

"What do you know about Marcus..." he started.

"Why don't you tell me? He didn`t even had the freedom to get out from the alchemists. You were going to force him to stay. But when he ran away, it was too late; he had already formed a group so you gave up and got scared.

"What are you trying to say Sydney?" He said even more frostily- if that was even possible- while Zoe asked who Marcus Finch was.

"No one you need to know about Zoe." He assured her.

"So you're going to lie to her. Funny, I thought you alchemists didn`t lied to each other." I said meaningfully.

Before Zoe could say anything, Jared slapped me again. That was the second time in two days. I touched the place his hand had connected with. It throbbed painfully.

"Come on Zoe, let's get out of here. I thought there was some hope left. But she has turned herself to the devil willingly. She is no longer a member of this family."

With a final glance at me, my little sister followed him out.

I was so angry that I wanted to cry but my mind always told me stay strong. I lay down on the bed at last and some lousy tears splattered down my cheeks. I didn't even have the strength to wipe them away. It wasn't like anyone could see me now. I fell asleep with guilt for doing this to my family.

In the dream it was dark and safe before it started to _change_. And soon I was back in the location where Sonya had had her wedding. It hit me suddenly that I was in a spirit dream. This time it was not as blurry though. I wore the same dress as I had on when I was meeting Ian. I thought it was Lissa again but when I saw who it was, my jaw threatened to drop.

Adrian stood beside the bar in a gray shirt and dark jeans. His hair was styled in that usual sexy way and his beautiful green eyes were just as shocked to see me. Under his eyes I saw dark circles that were telling me he was tired.

He started walking toward me as if he was afraid that I would disappear. I did the opposite. I backed into the wall instead. I had tried to avoid sleeping as well so that he or Sonya wouldn`t visit me in spirit dreams. But I had been hurt and let go of myself today. And now he had succeeded. I raised my hand to stop him from coming forward.

"Stay where you are."

He seemed to look hurt but quickly began to talk as if we were under a time limit.

"Sage where are you? Do you know how much I have been looking for you? Lissa said she heard you say something about Re-reduction. Do you know how worried I am?"

He tried to talk calmly but I could see the concern etched on the plains of his face. I stood there and shook my head.

"Do not look for me and do not worry. You don`t want to know what it is."

My voice broke at the end, which caused him to lose his calm.

"Do you want me not to worry? Hell, Sydney. You have been gone for almost three weeks! Nobody knows where you are and the alchemists told us not to be worried because you had finished your assignment in Palm Springs. But I knew you wouldn't leave us like that."

It felt like he could see through my soul. I tried to look down so that my hair would hide the injuries on my face.

"It's them, isn't it? Something strange is going on with the alchemists. I knew it ever since they refused to tell us where you were," He paused before he said,

"Sydney, tell me where you are."

It felt like he already knew, but wanted me to answer that agonizing question.

Of course it was the alchemists.

But what I actually said was, "I don't know and I've told you to not look for me. As long as everything is safe with you guys in Palm Springs nothing else matters."

The last part was true. He came even closer.

"Sydney, look at me. What happened to your face?"

There was something hard in his voice. I backed into the wall faster.

"Adrian, I told you not to come any closer!"

I was almost on verge of the tears. He didn`t listen to me and tilted my chin with his hand. Whatever he was going to say disappeared on the tip of his tongue as he grew even more stunned when he actually saw my face.

It was hard to breathe because of his touch. I could feel him hold his breath too. Suddenly he grabbed my hands and twisted them to see the bruises that remained from the handcuffs. That's when my dress replaced the white clothes I had in real life. His eyes hardened even more. I knew I had to drag myself away. And not just because of the agonizing touch.

"Take me away from this dream now."

I tried not to cry but when I saw his face and green eyes I couldn't help it.

"Sydney, I want to help..."

Then, I resorted to yelling at him.

Even if I wanted to do nothing but hold him.

"Take me away from this dream now! I do not want your help or anyone's help. Understand that I do not want you to look for me!"

Lie, lie and lie. Everything was just a lie. But sometimes you have to lie. The only thing I really wanted was for everyone to be safe. They couldn't save me now and I wouldn't let my party boy rescue me.

Before the dream began to fade, I heard him say,

"Sage, someone is waking me up but I'll find you. And when I do, you and I have to talk."

That was the last I saw of Adrian.

My hope, my dream, my life, and my love.

After that, I had a nightmare that I would never see him again.

And that hurt more than anything.

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_If the chapter was short sorry and please tell me if there is anything you liked or anything u think I should improve!?_


	3. Changing plans

_Thank you to all my 12 reviews, I loved all your reviews! They make me continue. :D_

_And to CherrySlushLover, thank you for beta reading my story. I wouldn`t have done it without you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, except Hyper Sage. :)_

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**CHAPTER 3**

**Changing plans**

I didn`t know how long I had been sleeping for, but when I finally awoke, I sat up in bed and stared at the mirror in front of me. The world moved slowly around me, and I didn't really feel... right. I touched my clammy forehead and a wave of dizziness struck me, causing me to fall weakly back onto my bed.

Today had been the same as every other day. I had received syringes and questions. This time there were more questions; making me feel immensely tired and mentally drained. They made me train too.

A few hours later, when I was sitting alone on the bed exhausted, I got the feeling that there was something going on. Something bad. I was sure that I had heard the sound of guns and- maybe people fighting? What was happening? I wanted to find out but didn't have the strength to even get up.

My dilemma was solved when the door opened and in came a woman with red hair and beautiful dark brown eyes. She had a protector aspect about her, which reminded me of ... Rose. It might not sound likely, but she looked just as cute in appearance. She must be a dhampir. She hesitated before she said,

"My name is Janine Hathaway and I am going to help you get out."

So she was related to Rose after all- maybe even her mom.

"Are you Rose's mother? And who gave you orders to get me out? What about the..."

I stopped mid-sentence when I was going to ask if the others knew where I was. It was clear that they did. Adrian must have been serious about getting me out. And maybe they weren't in Palm Springs anymore. But how did they know where I was? I could see on Janine's face that she understood.

"Yes, I am Rose's mum. Sydney, we really need to get moving." It looked like she was in hurry and did not really had the time to talk right at the time.

Whiteout thinking I tried to get up and wanted to get out. She came up to me when I tried to get up. I felt weak from the syringes that the alchemists had given me. Not just from today's, but from every other injection they had given me too. I wondered again what they contained. Whenever I had tried to stop them from jabbing it into me, I was given two as a punishment. I had stopped protesting after that.

When I finally rose, I felt my legs fail me. Janine grabbed my arm and laid it around her shoulders so that I could support myself on her.

Together we began to move towards the door.

When we began to move toward the door, I started to wonder if I should ask her for the truth or not. When she opened the door. I could see some alchemists on the ground. That's when I decided that I really didn't needed to worry about it but still I was gobsmacked. Had she done that all by herself? Or could she possibly have gotten help from someone? I was just going to ask her if she had when the alarm started screeching.

A little bit too late.

We continued to move despite its piercing shrieks and were just about to taste the fresh air of freedom when an alchemist appeared in front of us. Well he wasn't technically an alchemist.

Janine let me lean against the wall before the guard started walking closer to us. They fought against each other. But she was of course much faster and stronger. With one simple move she took the guard by his neck and struck his head against the wall. He lost his consciousness when his eyelids slowly closed and when the body fell to the ground. This woman was trained to fight down people, yet I was still surprised at how good she was in fighting. Well it had been a while since I had seen someone fight which was normal to experience in my life. When we started to move toward the door, I was afraid the guard wouldn't wake up for weeks. The alchemists didn't really needed to be afraid of people breaking in here because we were hidden safely under the ground. But since Janine had known where to look for, it had been a surprise for the alchemists.

I had been in the same center that Keith had been in.

When the door opened, everything fell into "slow motion".

The first thing I felt was the air hitting my face and the darkness welcoming me with open arms. Although I had been trapped for only three weeks, it felt like decades had passed since I'd felt the pure luxury of fresh air. It felt strange to be out again. I drew in a deep breath and looked down.

There was a black car waiting. Around the car were two guardians that protected us from any alchemists that may discover them- or me. When Janine and I finally managed to sit in the back seat, the car started to move. Meanwhile, I tried to process that I was out from the center. I looked beside me, and was surprised to find that Sonya sat there.

"Sydney, I'm so sorry about what happened!"

It was not the first time I had seen sympathy in her, but I was still shocked when she enveloped me a big hug that reminded me of my mother. I felt like crying, but obviously I didn't- I was stronger than that- and I was free!

"How was your honeymoon with Mikhail?" The question surprised her and me.

My voice betrayed me because it sounded so different and hesitant. She seemed to be surprised when I talked. Maybe just because after all of this, I still remembered that she had been gone on honeymoon with Mikhail.

"It was good but at the end of the honeymoon, we went back to Pennsylvania when we found out that you were gone."

The thought of people looking for me made me angry. Now everyone was in danger. We may have escaped the alchemists now but they weren't going to give up looking for me.

I said nothing more during the drive.

I could hear that someone was discussing something with Janine. Someone turned back to answer her; it was Mikhail. He gave me a small smile.

"We're going to take you to the surgery when we arrive in Court." I didn't answer him and I didn't think he waited for my answer either.

The idea of allowing me to be examined by a doctor made me even angrier. During the car journey, I got worried looks from Sonya and Janine but they said nothing because they knew I didn't want to talk.

When the car stopped, Sonya and Janine helped me out with Mikhail in front. It was still dark outside, but I guessed that it was midnight.

It was quiet in the Court when we entered. I had never been here. There was nothing special about it directly. It looked more like an expensive hotel, and most Moroi's and Dhampir's seemed to have already gone to bed.

Sonya and Janine led me to a room where it was quiet and empty. I must say that they had done a good cozy job. The red cushion on the leather couch and curtains were the exact same colour. They helped me sit on the couch.

"The doctor can wait until tomorrow. You must be very tired. Mikhail and I will guard your room tonight."

And with that Janine and Mikhail went out along with the other two guardians, leaving Sonya and I by ourselves. She sighed and started talking.

"Sydney your aura..."

I raised my hand to stop her.

"Sonya, I don't want to hear anything about my aura. " I looked down and sat on the bed. It was a big bed with a symmetric bedspread and purple cushion. It was very colourful for my taste. But to be honest I was glad there was colour that surrounded me- and not white walls. I had never really appreciated what I had before.

When I didn't say anything more, she left. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling my aura didn't look 'well'. And I didn't think it was just because of the alchemists, it had something to do with Adrian. But I didn't want her to tell me the truth.

I turned off the light and lay down on the bed. But I knew that sleep would not help me with my concerns or problems.

After a few hours of sleep, I woke up and saw that the clock read four. I went into the shower and was thinking of a plan. My actions were slow, methodical.

I was going to escape away from court and go on a plane.

I wanted to get away from everything, from all and start over. I wanted to forget the past. After the shower I looked through the closet and found a thick sweater and a pair of jeans.

Not my taste really. But if I didn't want to draw attention to myself, this was the best choice. I threw the clothes on me and wore a pair of boots that I had also found.

Before Janine left the door yesterday, she had left a handbag. I prayed that my passport would be there. I was right. When I opened it I found my passport, wallet, mobile and a few other things. I added a couple of new clothes in the bag and closed it.

After throwing the bag over my shoulder, I went to the toilet and threw the old clothes in the trash. With the hood on, I went to the window.

I knew there was someone who guarded the door so my only chance was to escape through the window. Julia and Kristin from my old school in Palm Springs had taught me how to climb down from a window and with a little luck; I had a room further down.

I opened the window while I was trying to see if there were any guardians nearby.

When I came out of the window, I felt the fresh air hit me on the face. I closed the window gently behind me. The climb down was not so good and I landed on the grass clumsily. The hard part began now.

Behind the fence, some yards away, was my freedom.

I started running toward the fence and took the set when I jumped over it. Scared that I would hurt my self because of the darkness.

And it wasn't easy. The fence was pretty high and made by barbed. My fingers stung but I hastily jumped over. I wasn't lingering any longer than necessary.

And to my luck the guardian nearby had gone another direction when I had jumped over the fence. They only had a few who had been guarding tonight. They probably hadn't expected me to pull a stunt like this. I was still a bit awed myself.

The others went somewhere else while this man went into the trees nearby. I quickly climbed over and then began to run out into the nearest street.

I was a bit irritated because the court didn't really have a nearby street. And I knew it was for their protection. I ran, never stopping, out in the cold until I saw a taxi approach and jumped in it.

"Nearest Airport." I said, exhaling loudly.

The driver said nothing and started to drive. I took out my phone and searched through the departing flights list. One that captured my attention immediately was Brazil.

My mother's sister lived there. She would never let me down and I missed her. Maybe she would understand my problems. I leaned my head against the window and looked out. How long would it take for them to notice my disappearance? I had to do it. They had to go on without me.

I had done it. I had taken myself away from court.

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_I would like to thank CherrySlushLover for being such an amazing beta reader. :) I can`t understand that she can write stories and at the same time beta read my story!_


	4. Hidden secrets

_Before you start with reading the next chapter I want you guys to know that I have changed my name to HopperIvashkinator. Because Hopper is so cute!_

_Hope you guys will like this chapter! :)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters except Hyper Sage and Sara._

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**CHAPTER 4  
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**Hidden secrets**

I was extreamly nervous that someone would notice me during the flight. I played with my fingers and waited on tenterhooks for someone to tell me that I needed to go back. But I tried to keep myself calm and declined the food offered to me. There was no way I could eat, no matter how thin I had got. If dad had paid any attention to my body, he would have told me that my body looked "thin enough".

I was so deep in thought that I did not notice that my phone vibrated. When I looked down I saw two missed calls and three text messages. The calls were from Sonya and Dimitri and the messages were from Eddie. Whiteout thinking, I rang Sonya. I hoped she would understand that I didn't wanted them to look for me.  
"Sydney, where are you?" she said worriedly.

I swallowed before I answered her.  
"I can't tell you."  
"We can solve this together. You don't need to go away from us. It's not good for you. It's not good for him." I looked up and tried not to cry. I hardly recognized my voice when I said,

"I'm sorry Sonya, but I really can't. Do not look for me. This is my choice." It was true, this was my choice. And I had no idea why I was doing this except I didn't feel like I could trust anybody. My head told me that it was a good thing to leave, but the other part tried to tell me that I needed to turn back to Adrian.

"What about him? Are you just going to leave him and give up on your love? Are you going to leave us?"

Of course she knew about me and Adrian. I didn't talk for a long time and after a while; I decided I couldn't take it any longer. I whispered,

"Goodbye Sonya. Tell the others I said goodbye."  
She knew exactly who I meant when I said 'the others'. I disconnected and turned off the phone. They would forget me. I was just a pathetic ex-alchemist. Which reminded me of Marcus again. I had thought so much about him and his "Merry Men." Could he help me?

No, I tried to tell myself. They were a group against the alchemists. I wouldn't feel safe with them. I didn't want to take the high risks that I knew they took every day.  
I kept my self waken up the hole journey when the plane landed. There weren't so many passengers and could take a taxi easily. The driver did notice the address I gave him and I was glad that I had remembered it. My mother had told me about her sister before. It had just been days before I had become an alchemist. I had sat at the garage and looked at my mother tinkering with an engine of a car. The words that had captured my attention were,

"We told our secrets to each other. We kept our secrets in our hearts, nowhere else..."  
My mother wasn't the type who told her secrets to someone. Even if I knew some of her secrets, like that she wasn't happy sometimes with the choices she had made. The hurt look in her eyes told me that she wanted to say more but stopped and replaced her gaunt look quickly with a smile. But I knew there was much more behind her words.

The trip took a while and soon the taxi drove into a residential area. It was hot outside when I got out from the taxi and my top was sticking to me. I was extremely uncomfortable but I plastered on a smile and was met by a house- no, a mansion. It was made out of white stone, and a gorgeous balcony overlooked the view.

I gave money to the taxi driver and started walking towards the house. The Brazilian house looked very similar to the Roman or Greek houses. The structure was slightly different, but it was clear that the aim of the construction team had been to make it very similarly. I don't know why, but I had always been dragged to this kind of houses.

I opened the gate carefully; I went to the door and rang the doorbell. After a while, the door opened and out came a woman who looked very much like my mother. She was tanned from the sun and was clearly shocked at the sight that awaited her- me. I immediately saw recognition dawning on her and her eyes brightened considerably. This was a woman that I'd only seen in photographs. Her name was Sara and she was my aunt.

"Sydney, what are you doing here? Come in, don't just stand there." She said almost immediately.

I was thankful when she told me to come in because the sun was still glaring at me. I had taken my sweater shirt off and just had a T-shirt on. I did as she said and surprised her with a big hug. She hugged me back and looked me directly in the eyes.

"Sydney we have a lot to talk about. Firstly. I do not know how you managed to escape from the centre?"  
She led me into the living room where I sat on the couch across from her. It was a nice living room with surprisingly a typical American style. I turned my attention from the living room and tried to focus on what I was suppose to say.

"Do you know what they did to me, Aunt Sara?" She shook her head and looked at me, pity clearly visible in her eyes.

"They shut me in there. Dad knew about it, I don't know if mum or Carly did. Do you know anything about that?" She nodded.

"Your mother knew about it. She demanded to get you out of there but they would not let her go out of the house. She called me crying after that. It was she who told me. Carly doesn't know about anything, she is too busy with college. No one dared to say anything to her." I grew suddenly worried about my mum. How could they lock her in the house? How could my own dad do that to her? But I was glad that they hadn't told Carly. I didn`t wanted her to be involved in my problems. Even if I willingly helped her with her problems.

I continued quickly, "Every day there was an alchemist who came in and asked me questions. I didn't ever eat the food there because ... "I paused and took a deep breath before I said,

"He ... dad came in with his two of his colleagues and thought about hitting me because I told him something he didn't wanted to hear." I was not going to involve Adrian in to this. I didn't finish because I started to cry. She came over and wrapped her arms around me. I missed him so much.

"Sydney honey, carry on. I need to know what happened so that I can help you."

I forced myself to stop crying and wiped the tears away and wished that she could help me. I skipped the visit with Hyper. I found that if I concentrated only on the facts of my break-out, I could talk about it a lot easier. Even if I wasn't directly an openly person.

"Okay I escaped; there was guardian who broke in called Janine Hathaway."

She frowned, but nodded at me to continue. She seemed to know about vampires.

"She broke me out from the centre. There were two friends of mine waiting in the car: a Moroi and a guardian, we arrived at the Court, where my other friends were, I wanted to get out of there. So I ran away and I decided to come here." What I didn't understood was why I had done it.

She met my gaze steadily and asked me.

"But why did the monsters shut you in there in the first place?"

I froze and said nothing. She obviously thought I wasn't going to answer. But I was going to. I had to. She needed to know why.

"I fell in love with someone forbidden." She drew in a deep breath before someone suddenly started to knock on the door. I looked at her, puzzled. Judging by the look on her face, she wasn't expecting visitors. Maybe it was her husband?

"I'm coming back, honey."

She got up to answer the door. I could hear the conversation in here.

"Hi, my name is Dimitri Belikov. I'm a guardian and have come here to take Sydney Sage with me."

Oh no. This was not good. As soon as I heard his name, I ran towards the back door as fast as I could. It was near the living room. When I closed the door behind me, guilt enveloped me for involving my aunt in all my mess.

I started running blindly before someone grabbed my arms from behind. I was trapped. I couldn't do anything about it now. When I forced myself to turn around, I saw that a face I knew all too well was full of concern.

Eddie Castile. He turned me against him while I tried to resist. He seemed to be a little surprised at how aggressive I was over getting away from him. Or trying to get away from him. He sighed and started to drag me away to a car. Secretly I had missed him a lot.

"I think we'll talk when you are yourself." When I was safely secured inside the car, Dimitri started driving. I could see how happy Janine was to have found me. Dmitri's face was like a mask at the moment- no emotion crossed his face. The guardian mask.

"Glad to see you Sydney," Was what he said when he saw me looking at him.

"What you did was not clever" Janine said. Clearly relived to have found me.

"This is kidnapping." I said angrily.

Eddie seemed surprised when I talked. And he got different kind of looks from Janine who seemed to say, "What did I tell you?."

"I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to my aunt. You have no right to take me wherever you want."

Janine replied. "You know why we have to do this. This has nothing to do with your aunt; it has something with you to do." In an attempt to lie, I retorted,

"You don't mean anything to me. I do not want anything to do with you."

Eddie winced and they were trying hard to stop me from realising how much my words hurt. I looked down and saw that my sweater was there. I throw the sweater on and draw the hood up. I didn't want them to see the guilt that I felt. We were silent the whole way until we came to a private jet. When I sat down in the seat furthest away from Janine and Dimitri (who were in a deep discussion) Eddie sat down beside me.  
I turned my head away and looked out the window. Suddenly, he turned my face toward him and pulled down my hood. He took my face between his hands and looked into my eyes.

"Sydney, is it too late?" I didn't understand what he meant.

Everything could be too late.

"What is too late, Eddie?" I asked with a dead voice. He sighed.

"We failed didn't we? We didn't come in time to save you." I understood that he meant the centre. And he had just confessed that he had helped me out of the centre. But what he didn't know was that I had problems before the centre. Had Adrian been there too?

"You could not save me. You shouldn't have saved me. I don't deserve to be saved."

He shook his head and got a soft glans in his hazel brown eyes. "There are a hundred reasons to why you should and you do deserve to be rescued. One of them is because you are my sister and ..." He paused before he continued, "You've always been there for me and others, even if it means using up your time."

He looked completely honest and I knew he spoke from his heart. But when he saw that I was not influenced by the words, he removed his hands so that I could turn my head to look outside the window again. Angry with my self for reacting as I did. Why couldn't I just be happy and tell him how much he meant to me.  
He sighed and muttered. "This is something that Ivashkov needs to take care of. I have said my brotherly part."

Time passed slowly. Sometimes fast.  
Because we were suddenly back to Pennsylvania. That's when I could tell my self that there was no way for me to have a chance to escape now. Before we went out, Janine turned to face me.

"Oh I forgot to tell you that there is a party tonight. Sonya promised to help you prepare for it."  
A party for what? I had no time for partying. I needed to think about what to do next. There was no way I was going. I shook my head firmly with the the golden curls dancing. "I can't go. I don't feel so good." It was true. I didn't felt well at all,

"We will get you checked up before the party. I know this is not the time for a party but Sonya thought it would be a good idea for you too come."

Good idea for what? As we got closer to Court, Dimitri and Eddie excused themselves and disappeared somewhere.

But I had a feeling that it wasn't anything to do with my check-up.

* * *

_Any idea whats going on with Eddie and Dimitri except the check-up?_

_And please, please review! It almost tears me apart to not know what you guys think?!_


	5. Remembering why

_Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great day or night. :D_

_I just realised now that this story is going to turn in so much more then Re-education. I hope it doesn`t madder for some of you?!_

_To guest(Jess), It isn`t guardian business going on between Eddie and Dimitri. Sorry, it was thought a very funny idea! XD It will come up in the nexter chapter so please hold on... To Jess and the other reviews. I hope you guys know how grateful I am to hear your thoughts and comments. They are making me happy, thank you! :)_

* * *

**Chapter five  
**

**Remembering why**

Janine led me into a room. It was the surgery room or rather the medical room. It looked like most hospitals did and had surprisingly a chair and table in the room. This reminded me of the centre. A Moroi woman in her thirties with brown hair and friendly brown eyes welcomed us in. She closed the door behind her and asked me questions about what kind of things I had been exposed to. When I had told her everything she went into a small room and picked up a big portion of food and soft drink. I looked questioningly at her.

"You should eat." Her eyes showed sympathy and honesty. It seemed like everyone felt sympathy for me. If it had been a year ago when I was on the alchemist's side, I would have told her straight away, 'no thank you'.

But since I had become friends with Jill, Eddie, Angeline and Adrian, I had learnt that eating wasn't dangerous. The hunger inside me screamed for food. It was a long time since I had seen this much food. When I started take a bite, she gave me a smile, careful not to show the fangs.

"I am just going to talk to Janine for a moment. I will be back."

When I nodded, she walked Janine into the room she had just recently come from. I wondered if they were talking about me. Whiteout caring I continued to munch on my delicious food and felt the delicious soda make me shudder. While I ate, I thought I would start eating these sized portions each day. Just when I thought my stomach would burst, they came back in. I stood up.

"When you're finished, I thought that we should look at how your body looks. We have to do the survey as soon as possible." Of course they needed to.

"I'm ready." She seemed to think about something. "Oh ... I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Anna." I didn't need to tell her my name. She already seemed to know. Like she already had expected me to come. I shook her hand and she showed me to the room. The room was small and looked like a dressing room. I had never seen anything like that in a hospital before though; and of course, this was after all not really a hospital.

"I would like you to put on this," she said, pointing to a plastic long shirt. "It will just be me and Janine when you come out again." She promised me before she went back from the empty room.

I started to undress and put on the weird shirt. I went out again and just wanted the check-up to go as fast as possible. I knew that what they had caused were still visible on my body but they were not so big. It was not a long time ago when all of this happened. When I came out again, Janine held in her breath while Anna seemed to try to keep herself in check. She was after all a doctor so she should be used to these types of situations. The shirt showed a lot of skin so they could see the wounds. Janine's face showed anger or hate as if she was ready to kill someone. Anna seemed to sympathize for me. "Could you please put up your hair?"

She gave me a tassel that I used to tie my hair in a high pony tail. She began to look at my arms. Then she proceeded with the body check for the slightest scratch and wrote it all down in her notes. One time, she wanted a confirmation what syringes they had used. I had answered with as much information as I could. Even if I myself didn't know what the syringes really continued. Janine went out when Anna nodded towards her then she looked back at me.

"The investigation is done. You can go to the party now. But remember to not stay up so late. The wounds will heal faster when it is allowed to rest the most."

Without a word, I nodded and went back to the small room and put my clothes on; I was grateful that the investigation was not as horrible as I had thought it would be. The wounds and injuries that I had been inflicted with did not need to be treated according to Anna. I was happy that it had not been that bad but it felt like she was not telling the whole truth. I entered into the room again, I saw that Janine had returned and reminded me that Sonya was waiting for me. Janine and I thanked Anna for her help and I could feel her eyes on me as we walked out through the door. On the way out, it was quiet. The party was apparently holding on the other side. When I looked at Janine, I saw that she was fully inside her own thoughts. This reminded me of what I had said to her and the others in the car.

"Janine ..." I began.

I knew she was listening but her attention was on our surroundings.

"I'm sorry for what I said before. I know we do not know each other, but I had no right to say what I told you guys before,"

She did not answer because I continued. "But what is actually going on? I mean, why is everybody behaving so strange? It feels like everyone is avoiding me. There's nothing wrong with me, is there?" As I said the last thing, I took hold of her hand so hard that she turned her whole body towards me. She was surprised but clutched my hand back as if to say that everything will be fine. Her hands were strong by years of training. She tried to think of what she should say. When she was talking I had noticed that her accent sounded a bit Scottish.

"It will be fine. Everyone has started to turn against the alchemists, some have been taken down and become trapped." What was she saying? I was so surprised that I did not know what to say, but then Sonya appeared at the top of the huge staircase.

"There you are. Come on, I've fixed a dress for you." Janine looked at me like she knew that I had questions but sighed at me to get up. It seemed like we were both not sure about going to the room. I was trying to figure out what Janine had said. Had she really meant what she said? Was there a rebellion going on? What could have made it start? I couldn't figure out things until I had more information about the rebellion.

I do not remember how, but I was suddenly in a tub filled with water. It smelt like flowers and somebody was brushing my hair. Sonya. I got so surprised that I pulled the brush from her.

"You don't need to do that. I can take care of myself." I said quickly.

She took back the brush from me with an unreadable face. "I'm already finished. You can get out of the tub."

I did as she said and curled myself in the bath towel that she held out to me. I didn't felt ashamed of my exposed body as I once would have. Even if the towel had covered most of the body. Suddenly, I hugged her. Tears filled my eyes, but I made sure that they didn't spill over. Last time someone had done something like this for me was my mum and I did not even know if I could meet her. She hugged me back.

"Thank you Sonya- for everything."

She put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes." You have not seen the dress yet. Come on." She said with a smile and I followed her to the room. On the bed lay a black dress. It was tight and went down to the knees. It had short sleeves and a V-neck. This reminded me a little bit of the dress that I had been wearing when I was meeting Ian. It was beautiful. Okay, I did not know what she was thinking but had she somehow forgotten the wounds on my body?

My idea was not to be present at the ball when she wasn't watching. I had planned to do something else tonight. I nodded and gave her a smile.

"It's so beautiful." She looked anxiously at me as if she saw something in my aura but turned quickly away when she saw that I was looking at her. She helped me to put on the dress. The worry was gone and replaced by her happy mood. She told me about her and Mikhail's honeymoon which gave me no chance to ask her about the others. I hoped that she wouldn't suspect me tonight. Then I put on a pair of high heels. She had bought the dress and high heels for me as a welcome present at court. After that, she put my hair in a messy bun and applied a bit of eyeliner. Sometimes Sonya felt more like a girl than a... Moroi. When she thought that I looked good enough, she went in to the bathroom to fix herself.

I sat down and stared at the carpet. This was Sonya's room. The interior of the room looked exactly like mine had done before I ran away from the Court. But she had more things and seemed to have made herself at home.

What was I suppose to do now? Everything had changed. I was trapped with people I would have called monsters just some months ago. And I was dyeing to know what was going on outside the court. When Sonya was done, Janine just walked in. Exactly in time. Could that be a guardian thing?

"You've really done a great job with her Sonya. You look really beautiful." She said and directed the last at me with a friendly tone.

"Thank you. You look nice too." I knew I had lost some weight. I actually looked like back when I first met the gang in Palm Springs. But I hoped that I hadn't lost some of my curves. I was regretting that I once wanted to be slim like a moroi.

She had changed her clothing into the guardian uniform. The black and white attire meant she was working. Every guardian always had someone that they were required to protect. And the someone's were always Moroi's. Some dhampir's didn't always have someone to protect or they chose to get a bloodwhore. I wondered who she was assigned to as we went out.

I could hear music. It came from the great hall on the other side. Before we went out, I had been able to borrow a giant thin coat of Sonya. It was dark and draped around my shoulders. I had never borrowed this many things from someone. Except the time when Carly used to live with us.

When we got to the hall, everybody was busy. I walked between Sonya and Janine who followed me protectively. It was obviously just moroi's and dhampir`s attending the party and they were mixed. This was actually pretty unusual since they didn't like to mix. I did not know whose party it was or why they had held it, but it seemed important. The decoration looked a lot like birthday decorations.

While everyone mingled with each other and danced, I saw a big man speaking to Sonya and Janine. I saw this chance to escape out to the balcony. I was hoping that they would not follow me out. The balcony was big and a bit separated from the hall. When I reached the balcony, I stretched across the railing and looked out. The silence and the air was just what I needed. I pulled off my coat and let it fall to the ground.

I was so busy that I did not notice that someone was behind me.

"Be careful to not fall off the railing. Or there wouldn't be any Sage anymore"

When I turned around with one hand on my beating heart, I saw Adrian. I did not think he would be here. But if I would have thought it thoroughly, there is no one else who likes parties more than Adrian. He smiled, but I could see other emotions too that he was trying to hide. The most visible was anger and hurt. He was just as beautiful as I remembered and was dressed elegantly for the evening. But under his eyes I could see the dark circles. I did not know how to answer him.

"What is that suppose to mean?" I replied angrily back. I picked up my coat and was just about to exit the balcony. Only Adrian could make me cry in these kind of situations. But I wasn't going to show him how I felt. That's when I felt his arm go around my waist to pull me towards him. I stopped walking and turned to face him. I felt my skin tingling because of his touch, while I was trying to avoid his intense green eyes.

"Sydney, I know what happened. Do you think I have been away during the time you were in Court because I didn't want to see you?"

I nodded slightly. Somewhere inside me it had hurt that Adrian hadn't cared to visit me or been there for me.

But what had he meant? Had he seen everything? But how; this didn't sound good.

I drew in a breath when I felt a hot glow shine within me. I had almost forgotten that he could make me feel this way. He only made it worse when he continued, completely aware of my erratically beating heart.

"Then you are wrong, because you don't know how much I love you. And I know that you love me too."

When he said the last part he laid his hands on my cheeks. I felt warm from head to toe. It reminded me that I loved him to. I got a lump in my throat. Oh god. Those eyes that bore in to my soul and could see everything. I did not know how, but suddenly I was in his arms with my head pressed against his shoulder and holding him like I was never going to let him go away. First I thought it was my normal feelings to him when I felt the tingling on my skin. But if it wasn't for his rigid embrace, I wouldn't have believed what he was doing.

That was when I became aware that he was healing me.

_**JILL**_

While I stood behind some bushes, I thought that the Court really had many secretly places. Sydney pushed Adrian away from her. She shook her head which only made her look more beautiful (according to Adrian). The dress that she wore nearly drove him crazy. Her big eyes (Adrian and I used to joke that they were golden) detained in shock like she couldn't believe what he was doing. Adrian felt guilty for doing this to her. I could feel it through the bond. But he had been determined about doing it. He couldn't stand the fact that she had been hurt by her own people. It was part of the big plan to heal her. Even if I had told him not to, he would have done it.

She turned away from him in disbelief and ran away from him. Leaving Adrian hurt- like he wanted to run to her and tell her that he was sorry. But he wasn't feeling sorry for healing her. He helplessly stood there and looked for a cigarette in his pocket when he stopped and remembered why he wasn't smoking. He wondered why destiny made their love go on like this. This caused him too sigh and turn back to go to the party.

I didn't want to be inside his head. I was too afraid of what would wait there. I brushed my hair back and sank down on the grass without caring about the dress. I hadn't told Adrian that I would spy on him; if I wanted to, I could just have got inside his head. But I was afraid of going in there and besides, I didn't wanted too look weird in front of the guests in there. Sneaking out had been hard enough since guardians were following me anywhere.

I was, after all, the princess and I needed to look like I was in attendance. And I wanted to see that Sydney was alive with my own eyes. What Sydney didn't know was that the whole gang including Sonya, Rose, Christian, Adrian, Dimitri, Janine, Eddie, Mikhail, Lissa and even Mia had been somehow involved in helping her out of that brainwashing centre.

Mine and Lissa's relationship was still not so good, we all had, after all, been busy. There had been another person who had helped us too. Or told us what the Re-education was. I had been scared about it. And I couldn't believe that someone would do that to Sydney. She felt like a sister too me. That night when Angeline, Eddie and I had got into her room, we found out she was gone in the most horrible way. I put my head in my hands and sighed when I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. I winced and was about to scream when I saw who it was. The beautiful hazel brown eyes of Eddie looked down at me with concern. When he saw that I was okay, he replaced the concern to the guardian mask. Could he ever show me what he actually felt?

"I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized and took his hand away from my shoulder. It felt empty without it. Well of course it did. I had a crush on him. That's when I noticed that I was still sitting on the grass. And I had sneaked out whiteout telling anybody. I stood up quickly.

"No it doesn't matter. I was just going to head back inside." I felt my cheeks warm up and looked away from the protective look he was giving me.

"Are you sure that you are okay?" He asked me. And some of the concern returned. I hoped that he wouldn't ask what I was doing here outside alone.

"Yeah, I am sure. Let's go back. Do you want to go and check if Hopper is okay with me?"

He didn't believe me but knew that I didn't want to talk about it.

"Adrian will go crazy if he finds out that I haven't checked up on him." I tried to joke, which actually caused him to smile slightly. I couldn't help but smile back. God, he was so hot! I was happy when he turned away to go back to the room. Because I was sure that I felt myself blush even more. Did he think I looked beautiful? I had a light pink dress… That's when I remembered Sydney and Adrian. My smile fell. On our way back, I just figured out that Sydney wouldn't be happy if she knew that we had told Eddie about Hopper. That's when I sighed again and tried to ignore Eddie's question if my 16th birthday was going alright.

I thought about a lot of things as I walked away from the worst birthday of my life.

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_Jill`s POV was suppose to be a surprise for you! Poor Jill for not having Sydney on her 16th bithday. Did you like her POV, if so don`t hesitate to tell me or review about anything else._

_As for more Sydrian. Adrian will come up soon ,Sydney Ivashkov, for asking me about him. I miss him too..._

_I have changed my profile! So that I can let you know a bit more about me. :)_

_Until next time XD_


	6. Honestly back together

_First I want to thank the reviews I got,_

_Dedicated reader, Sydney Ivashkov, CherrySlushLover and splendour`n`sparkle! I want you to know that I love you extra much for reviewing.;D_

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**CHAPTER 6  
**

**Honestly back together**

I was sitting in my room resting my head in my arms. I had run away from Adrian. I couldn't understand why he had tried to heal me. I didn't know if he had even got the chance to do it. I stood up and went to the bathroom on shaky legs.

My face looked like a mess under the straight face I tried to keep. My hair was still up in a messy bun and the eyeliner that Sonya had managed to put on was smudged. But there was no sign of any scratches. I looked carefully at my whole body but didn't find any scratches at all.

He had succeeded and healed me. I tried to ask myself why I was so angry that he had done it. There was this once time he had done it when Marcus had hit me over the chin. And I had let him do it that time. Something inside me told that I was angry because he hadn't asked me before and had just thought that I wouldn't care if he did. Or was I worried about him? Everybody was hiding so many things from me, like Janine. She knew something about the alchemist rebellion and hadn't told me anything about it yet.

With one last look at my eyes that was surprisingly shining with gold, I turned away from the mirror and walked out of the bathroom. I took off the high heels and lay down on the bed. I remembered when Adrian had looked at me like he didn't want to heal me against my will. What could have made him heal me after knowing that I wouldn't like it? I was pretty sure he knew that I didn't like it when he was healing me. When I pushed him away, he had called my name, but I needed time alone to sort things out.

I was going to try and take care of things tomorrow, I promised myself as I slowly drifted into a restless sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, it was because of someone knocking on the door. I slowly opened my eyes and peered at the clock. I instantly felt a dull pain in my head when I saw that is was ten to eleven in the morning. I never slept in this late. No wonder I felt hungry I told myself as I answered the door.

Adrian was standing outside my door at court with an apologetic look on his face. It kind of looked cute but at the same time it reminded me of why he was here. He had changed his clothes from yesterday to a pair of khaki pants and a blue shirt. Why couldn't I have just changed my clothes last night? And I was pretty sure my hair didn't look good but I tried to ignore it. Well, I hadn't exactly expected him to come.

"What?" I asked angrily before he had the chance to make a comment about my dress and hair.

"Well, let's just stop playing unpleasant, shall we? You know why I am here." He looked impatient. This reminded me of his hurt and anger yesterday. Actually I knew why he had come. He wanted me to forgive him. But I wasn't sure if there was anything else. So I tried to play with him.

"No, I actually don't know. Have you come here to try and heal me?" I asked him and knew that I was playing with his mood. He didn't look regretful at all.

"Can I at least come in?"

"No." I knew that I was being ridiculous and closed the door. That's when I felt a foot go between the door and the frame. I immediately opened the door, afraid that I was hurting his foot. I looked at him irritated, and just waited for him to say what he wanted to.

"Can I please come in Sydney? I need to talk to you." He looked fully serious. I think that's the reason to why I was thinking about letting him in,

With a sigh I opened the door and let him come in. When the door was closed, I turned around and crossed my arms, waiting for him to start talking. That's when I remembered that I was the one yesterday who promised myself that I was going to talk to him.

"Adrian, why did you heal me? You know that I hate it when you do that and still you did."

"I am so sorry that I did that to you. But I had to. You know that I hate it when someone hurts you."

"It was just some scratches. And you could have asked me first."

"Scratches or not. They still hurt you Sage!" There was when some of his impatience came back. But I got relieved when he called me Sage again. He quickly continued like he regretted something.

"Sorry, I wanted to ask you first. But I wasn't sure if you would agree to it." I shook my head and tried to calmly look through the window.

"Well, you have already done it so it doesn't really matter. I just wanted to know why you had done it." I looked back in his eyes.

"I promise that I will ask you the next time." He said honestly and took a step forward.

"Hopefully there will be no next time." It was true; I hoped there wasn't going to be a next time. I knew what the spirit could do to Adrian and I didn't want him to waste it on me.

"About yesterday, what did you mean when you said that you knew about everything?" I was going to push him and Janine to answer some of my questions

"I had enough of people hiding things from me." It looked like he wasn't going to answer so I quickly added.

"And don't say that you don't know." He sat down on my bed and I stayed where I was.

"We saw everything through a video camera when they broke in to the centre." For a moment I got stunned.

"Who are _they?"_ I asked instead.

"Well you know that I would do anything to get you out. And by the way, why didn't you tell me there was a Re-education centre where they hit and brainwash you to think what they want you to think?" That's when I realised that it was the reason to why he had been hurt and angry.

I sighed.

"I would have. But it never came up."

"Did you forget the fact that…" He started but I interrupted him.

"I didn't want to worry you guys." He tried to read me and thought better of arguing against it. But I had a feeling he was going to bring it up again in the future.

"There was me of course, "He continued. Of course.

"But there was Jill and Eddie too." No Angeline.

Strange. What had happened to her?

"There was Rose, Lissa, Dimitri, Christian, Sonya, Mikhail, Janine and Mia."

"Mia is a friend. Pretty short for a morio, blonde hair and blue eyes. You will meet her here at court." He quickly added when he saw my questioning look.

"They all helped me? Is that why you have been behaving so strange?" Well I wasn't shocked. I had already known that some had helped me. But I didn't think that all of them had.

"Yes in some way we all did help you. And what, have I behaving strangely towards you? I would never do that to you Sage." He said with mock disbelief. I rolled my eyes and felt a small smile start to form. I really hoped that we still at least friends.

"I didn't mean you. I was talking about Janine and everybody else. Like Eddie and Dimitri."

"Oh." He said. "Well they are our spies, you could kind of say. They told the rest of us how you felt." I still couldn't believe that they had seen everything through a camera. A camera that the alchemists had in the centre. A video where they could see everything I had done and what I had been exposed too.

"What? Why would they tell you how I felt?" I shrieked, suddenly realising what he had said.

A big grin started to form on his lips.

"I think I need to sit down," I said as I pointed accusingly at him. "And don't think that you are done talking."

And he told me that some of them had broken into the centre and that he wanted to be the one to take me out of the centre. But the plan had been to let Janine to do that.

"Who told you about the centre?" I interrupted once.

"When Lissa visited me in that dream none of you seemed to know what it was." This was something I had been dying to know.

"Well, the old man told us." I was pretty sure that my face showed question marks. Adrian's dad? How could a Moroi…

"No not that old man. It was Abe." The Zmey! Of course it had to be him. He already knew too much about everyone and everything else more then he should. Still, I was surprised at why he would want to help me out.

Adrian continued to tell me things I needed to know. But I never asked about the rebellion.

It was quiet for a minute when he had told me everything and then I asked,

"Where is Hopper?" Adrian had been staring down at the carpet and now looked up at me in surprise.

"Didn't think you would ask about him. Why are you wondering?"

"Well of course I would have asked about him since he is my baby dragon." I said and rolled my eyes. He rose up.

"Well he is with Jill. I can walk you out to her room when you have changed your clothes." He nodded in my direction. I blushed when I remembered that I still had the dress on.

"I am coming back after an hour. See you soon Sage." I knew he was giving me the chance to shower and put on normal clothes.

He was just going out when he turned his head and said,

"Nice hair by the way. You really look sexy in the morning." He said smiling divinely as he walked out the door.

It seemed like some things hadn't changed, I thought as I walked to the closet and tried to see if there was any clothes that looked properly. When I didn't find anything I closed the closet in frustration. I was just thinking that I wouldn't go when there was a knock on the door. Already? I asked myself as I answered the door. Outside was a guardian. And he was holding my baggage bag that I had gotten to carry my clothes in from Palm Springs. Not just that, but he also carried my purse in the other hand.

"I think these belong to a Sydney Sage." The man said holding the bags out to me.

"That's me. Thank you." I said as I took them in gratefully. When he was gone I closed the door behind me and opened the bag. There were all of my clothes. Not just the one I had taken with me. New clothes I had bought in Palm Springs. I happily took out a pair of dark jeans and a purple blouse with short sleeves. It had a ruffled front up to the neck. I also found my shoes and lay the clothes on the bed.

When I came out of the shower, I dried my hair and applied some make up. Just as I had put on the clothes and done the messy bun from yesterday, there was a knock on the door. I quickly walked to the door with a fast glance at the clock. It was almost three o' clock and talking with Adrian had taken a while.

When we came out of the room he didn't said anything. Jill's room was actually near mine. Just round the corner. I started to feel nervous. What would Jill say when she saw me?

"Where is your room?" I asked curiously as he knocked on the door. He raised his eyebrows.

"Didn't thought you would be interested in knowing where I slept. Why such interested?" I just sighed when the door opened.

The one who opened the door was actually a surprise for me. It was Eddie. When he saw who it was, he nodded at us to come in and closed it behind. We actually surprised each other with hugging. He was after all, like a brother to me. I had missed all of them a lot! When we released, I just realized that this room was bigger than mine and Sonya's had been.

Jill's room looked a bit more luxurious since she was a princess, I just realised. The curtains, carpet and the sofa looked fit for royalty. And there was Jill, sitting on her big bed with Hopper on her knees. Was it just me or had she grown up? And when I say grown up, I meant her features. But I just realised that Eddie knew about Hopper. Jill jumped up from the bed and made her way to me. Thank god that she hadn't grow taller. She gave Hopper to Adrian and gave me a big hug. I hugged her back hard.

"Oh Sydney. I am so glad that you are safely back. What they did to you was just horrible. I can't believe what they did to you. There is no way you are going back to them!" She said determinedly. I patted her on the back, scared that she would start crying. She released me and I took the chance to accuse Adrian.

"You told him about Hopper!" _He_ meaning Eddie. Everyone turned to Adrian.

"Hey! You don't need too look at me like that." He said to Eddie and Jill. "It was Jill who told Eddie." Everyone looked at Jill.

"I am sorry Sydney. But I needed to tell Eddie. Adrian and I couldn't take care of Hopper by ourselves." She looked completely honest. I guess that they couldn't take care of him by themselves against the whole court.

"Well I guess you're right. You wouldn't have been able to take care of him by yourselves." I sighed. Wait if Eddie knew about Hopper, wouldn't that mean…

"Why didn't you tell me that you were doing magic, Sydney?" Eddie asked. He had a sad expression. Now, who of them had told him this? Jill knew it too since she was bounded to Adrian.

"Who told this time?" I asked with my hands on my hips and looking between them.

"Both." They both murmured and Jill looked down. I looked at Adrian in disbelief. He held up Hopper as a shield.

"It doesn't matter who told what. They should have. You should have told me. Why didn't you tell me? This could change everything." Eddie asked. Like he was trying to figure out if he could trust me. Hopper started to shriek and he was trying to come to me. Adrian gave me the dragon and I held him close. "Hey there Hopper. Have you missed me?" I asked him as I patted him softly. He shrieked in answer.

I turned to sit on Jill's bed. Jill sat down next to Eddie on the sofa. And Adrian settled down beside me.

"Well I didn't know how to tell you. I wanted to. But I wanted to keep the magic secret for as long as possible. And I thought that you would be scared of me." Eddie snorted and looked back at me.

"You told Adrian who in this case told Jill. And they didn't even get scared. And you didn't think that you could tell me?" Well, I had trusted Adrian. Now when I thought about it, maybe I should have told him. Jill had never mentioned the magic.

"Well it wasn't that easy Castile. Sydney is after all a human. Do you think she would find it easy to tell you that she was doing magic?" Adrian said protectively.

"No I don't think she would. It is just that I don't like the idea of you all hiding these kinds of things for me." He said. "Maybe I could have helped you. You shouldn't hide what you are doing to the others."

"What do you mean?" Adrian asked.

"I just thought that maybe we should tell the others about Sydney's magic." Jill nodded in agreement.

"I agree with Eddie. If we tell the others, it can help us." She said and looked at me. "They are your friends too Sydney. I mean, they even helped you out of the centre to show you how much they are willing to help you." She was right. But this was something that was going to change my friends' lives forever. They were going to see me as a total different person. I had been hiding the magic for a while and now they wanted me to tell everyone. I looked over at Adrian for help. He was looking at me too. He was trying to send me a message that seemed to say,

"It is alright. We are together in this". This encouraged me.

"We are telling everybody else tomorrow. Not today." I decided. Jill cheered along with the screaming dragon and Eddie smiled at me. Adrian also gave me a smile which told me that he was proud of me. I turned my face away from him and looked at Eddie and Jill. My own smile faded when I remembered something.

"Where is Angeline?" I asked. I had been wondering where she was. Adrian had told me that our assignment were done it Palm Springs. But I had never heard him say anything about Angeline.

"She is back with the keepers." Eddie said. And his smile faded away. The relationship between them hadn't been so good and I wondered if they had sorted it out. Confusingly, Jill was still smiling.

"But the good news is that she ran away with Trey!" She exclaimed.

"He did what? Did you just say that Trey Juarez ran away with a dhampir?" I had never thought that he would do that. He had told me that he would try and keep his distance away from her. I was glad that they had escaped together. They loved each other after all. But I wonder what that could have caused him to do anything like that. Everyone was smiling at my outburst, even Eddie.

"What made him do it?" I asked curiously.

"Well, when he heard that the alchemists had taken you away to the Re-education centre, he decided that he would escape with Angeline just for you." He had done it for me.

"How do you know all of this?" I asked her.

"Well he told me and Eddie to tell

this to you if we ever got the chance to talk to you." I smiled to myself.

"He does know that he is going to be forced into living in the jungle with no technology and hunting wild animals." I said, and laughed with everybody else. The sight of Trey hunting wild animals was a hilarious thought. I looked at Adrian who was also laughing. I didn't really think he knew who Trey was.

"Hey you told me that you wanted to live with the keepers too. And still you think it would be a tragedy to go around with no hair gel." We laughed even more at this and continued with the day.

We talked until midnight and ordered in food when we got hungry. I was happy that I could talk to them again and not confined with four white walls around me. But I never told them that. Eventually Hopper fell asleep. It started to get late. When it was time to go, Adrian and I walked out. I hoped that he didn't know that I was thinking about him.

"Well I guess I should go to my room. Good night Sage." Adrian said and was just going to head inside with Hopper.

"Wait Adrian!" I told him. He turned back with a smirk.

"Yes Sage?" That's when I did something I never thought that I would do; I took some steps closer and closed the inches between us.

"Sorry for behaving really weird lately." I said and looked him in the eyes. He wrapped his arms around my waist. And the tension was there.

"You haven't been behaving strange. But you have been trying to avoid us. Why?"

"I thought that I was…" I thought what? Now that I knew there was a rebellion going on between the alchemists and the vampires, there wasn't any reason to be scared anymore. This reminded me that I needed to ask Janine for more information. I focused back on him. He was looking slightly worried. That remained me how much I had missed him.

"I thought that I was protecting you from them. I didn't know there was a rebellion going on. That is

changing a lot."

He drew in a deep breath. It was hard to not focus on his lips.

"Sage, do you know how much I am willing to protect you? Do you want me to remind you why…?" I started to laugh.

"No, don't give me any lectures!" He was smirking now.

"Are we back on track Sage?"

"Hmm… no." I joked with him.

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear that." Unaware of our surroundings, we were suddenly kissing. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pressed his body against mine. I hadn't kissed him in a long time and it almost felt like the kiss was desperate. I thought that the fiery kiss would never stop until Hopper started to shriek. I pushed him back and smiled. We were back together and I didn't need to worry about the alchemists according to what Janine had said. I backed into my dorm.

"Good night Adrian. Take care of Hopper."

"Sage…" I heard him say longingly as I closed the door behind me laughing.

* * *

_I am so happy that Adrian are back and I hope you are too! :D_

_To clear it out, It was Abe who told them what the Re-education was, Thankyou to Bloodlinesfan for figuring that out. And Dimitri and Eddie was telling the others how Sydney felt (spying on her). So it was very close CherrySlushLover! :)_

_And I don`t know if I should write a bit about Eddie and Jills love...? What do you think?_


	7. Welcome to the gang

_Hi everyone, I just want to start with that you should check out Ehlymana`s story about Fiery heart, it is really good and I would be happy if she got your support. The second thing I need to say was that I am doing a story called "Behind the porcelain-doll" but it won`t be out this month surely next month. I am pretty busy, so if I don`t update on this story regular I hope you will understand. And again, thank you to reviews, there will be some funny moments in this chapter. ;)_

* * *

**CHAPTER 7  
**

**Welcome to the gang**

The next day when I woke up, I was worried about what the others would think of me when I told them about the magic. As I got ready, I grew more and more worried. Maybe I should have just said that I didn't want them to know. I got interrupted from my thoughts when there was a knock on the door. And to my luck, it was Adrian outside when I opened the door.

"Hello Sage."

He was just about to make a snarky comment when he saw my expression. I was sure that I looked worried. When I opened the door to let him in, he didn't hesitate.

"What's going on? You don't think that I am angry at you, do you?"

I shook my head. I knew he wasn't angry with me. He never had been from the beginning. He had just been angry at the alchemists.

"Do you think it is a good idea to tell them about the magic? I mean it would feel right to but then… I don't know? This is something new and I don't want to be the one telling them." I looked down and drew out a deep breath. He came closer and I could smell the scent of pine, cologne and other things that were overwhelming.

"Sydney, do you forget that I am going to be there with you? You're not going to be alone when you tell them. Did Eddie get scared when you told him you were doing magic?"

He came closer and placed his hand on my cheeks. They warmed up from where he touched and I couldn't help but look up.

"It's not that." I murmured.

"Then what is it?" He asked, with those eyes searching mine.

"If I tell them I am scared that people will think that I am a different person. And ask me to do different kinds of things. I wish Mrs Terwilliger was here." I sighed.

I did wish she was here. She would have told me what to do. Something from yesterday that had stucked in the head was when Eddie had said;

_Why didn't you tell? This could change everything._

He was just going to reply when there was a knock on the door. Adrian went to the door to answer it.

Jill and Eddie came in. Eddie had a sandwich with him.

"Figured out you would be hungry." He said smiling and handed it to me.

I thankfully took it. I was hungry and I think they were trying to get my body back to its normal weight. But I didn't care because I wanted to get to my normal weight too. "Thank you…" I just realised something. "Where is Hopper?" I asked and looked at Adrian.

"Relax Sage, "He said and sighed."He is sleeping in an aquarium with your scarf. I figured that you wouldn't be so happy about him coming along."

The dragon needed my scarf too sleep. I wondered if that was a consolation to that I still was alive while I was gone. They must have retrieved a new aquarium, unless they hadn't brought the whole aquarium to Court.

"No," I heard myself reply. They looked at me surprised. "If we are going to tell them the whole truth, then Hopper is coming along. I've had enough of lying to people."

I didn't want to tell them a part-truth and then leave the other part of Hopper's existence out. If I was going to tell them about the magic, then why not tell them that I had a dragon. Besides it would help explain why we couldn't take care of it by ourselves.

"If that's how you want it, Sage. I don't like the idea of people not knowing that I am a dad to Hopper either." He said smiling. He really seemed to be excited about this whole thing. Eddie and Jill just shook their heads at him.

"Let's just go." Eddie said, and we walked out quickly. On the way, Adrian told me where everyone was sleeping. I couldn't remember where everyone's room was except his. We all had decided that we were going to bring Hopper with us when we had told them about the magic first. It would help us see how the reactions would look like before we showed them Hopper.

Whilst this was going on, I just remembered something. I slowed down a bit to let Jill and Eddie walk a bit ahead. This caused Adrian to turn his face toward mine.

"Adrian. Does everyone know about our relationship?" I asked him. We both knew that it could be a problem since Moroi`s and humans didn't got involved in relationships. Especially not alchemists. Well I was an ex-alchemist. But I was surrounded by vampires and it would feel uncomftorble. Not just that. Adrian was royal.

"Slow it down Sage. We can talk about it later," He gave me a quick side glance. "Or do you want to talk about it in front of them?"

He asked me, meaning Jill and Eddie.

I shook my head.

"Thought so. But don't worry; it is still just Jill knowing about it. No one else."

I felt relieved about that but at the same time I got disappointed. Was he ashamed of telling others about our relationship? I knew we couldn't talk about it more right at the time. When Jill and Eddie stopped in front of a big door and opened it, it hit me that the room was huge. And it looked like a living room, sort of. There were huge windows on alternate two sides of the room, with purple curtains falling down to the Persian carpet. There were three big couches with three white cushions. The Court was modern in fittings and at the same time they tried to have it cosily.

And on the couches were people Vasilisa, or Lissa that Adrian had insisted on calling her, was sitting on the front couch with her boyfriend Christian. She looked like an angel with her plain blond hair hanging and wearing formal clothing. Dimitri and Rose was also there standing in they're usual clothing and trying to look like they were checking out the background. Mikhail and Sonya was holding hands and sitting on the carpet. The girl who I assumed was Mia was also sitting there beside Christian. They both had light blue eyes though Christians were lighter and more intense. They all turned their heads toward us when we came in. I was feeling really uncomftorble, not just because there was new people in the room, I could handle that. Because they had seen everything I had been exposed from by a video camera. Suddenly I felt angry and ashamed on the alchemists. The thought of me being one of them made me boil.

Behind the couch, I could see Janine looking like she was going to jump and kill the first next person she saw coming in to the room. When she saw that it was us, she relaxed.

He could read my discomfort so Adrian lay his arm around my shoulders and practically dragged me to them. The anger almost disappeared and I tried to calm myself. But the uncomfortable was still there by the fact that they knew almost everything about me.

Lissa stood up with a smile on the face careful not to show her fangs. And I was grateful that she didn't.

I thought she was going to shake my hand when Adrian moved his arm and let her give me a hug. I was startled, but hugged her back. The hug was friendly and I immediately got the feeling that I was going to get along well with her.

When she ended the hug, I saw that everyone was looking at us.

"Hi Sydney. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you and I am really sorry for what happened."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Rose was rolling her eyes. It was almost like she thought Lissa`s politeness was fancy and funny.

"Thank you. It is nice to see you too. Adrian has told me so much about you too." I said and looked at Adrian menacingly. What could he possibly have told about me? He tried to look innocently at me.

"Oh…don't worry Adrian haven't told me anything rude about you." She said laughingly looking between us.

"In fact it wasn't just him talking about you."

I didn't need to look at Jill and Eddie too know who she was talking about. Rose came up to me and was glad that I was okay. She said that she had been worried about me the whole time. Then she said that she wasn't done talking to me yet. She was whispering all of that and then Dimitri nodded at me in greeting with a relieved expression. I got a bit surprised at how worried everyone had been for me. I wasn't regretting that I had choosed these vampires' friends of mine before the alchemists. I was just wishing that I had done it before. Like Jill said; They would do everything for me. They even showed it by saving me from the Re-education.

When it came to Christian and Mia, we just shook hands. They were friendly. I didn't really know them after all. I felt someone draw me down to the ground. It was Sonya. And she was smiling mysteriously at me. "Where did you go yesterday?" She asked me with a knowing tone.

Crap. She knew something was going on between me and Adrian.

"Ehh…I just walked to the balcony." I said. Out of my corner I saw Adrian sit in front of me with Jill and Eddie at his side. I was grateful that they were sitting near. To my relief Adrian came to my protection by saving me from Sonya's questions.

"Folks. We have something to tell you." Everyone looked at him and came closer. I was surprised at the fact that they were listening to him. Of course they would. They are his friends Sydney. A little voice remembered me.

The queen and the others decided to sit down on the ground with us in the circle. The carpet was actually very soft.

Was I ready to tell them the truth?

"What is it you would like to tell us Adrian?" Lissa asked him curiously.

"Well it isn't about me. It is about Sage." Someone snorted."Who is Sage?" Christian asked clearly not knowing that it was my last name. Adrian and Rose were looking at him like he was an idiot."Oh right. Sydney Sage. Now I remember." He said quickly as he remembered my name. "Sorry." He said and looked at me.

From the look on his face it showed me that the name had stucked in everyone's head when they had been searching for me. Not knowing my name was like not knowing that 1+1 was two.

I shrugged. It was Adrian who seemed to find Christian's interruption disturbing and was staring at Christian like he wanted to throw something at him. When Sonya noticed this she cleared her throat.

"Well what was it you wanted to tell us about Sydney?" She asked him and gave me a quick side glance. Then she laid her arm around my shoulders protectively. I almost huddled into her to turn the attention somewhere else.

Adrian looked away

from Christian and looked at me instead. He tried to give me a encouraging smile when he saw my face. That's when I remembered that I needed to do this.

"Before I tell you what it is, please try and not judge what I have to say before you hear me out." Everyone was quiet. I took that as a yes. I draw in a deep breath and looked up. "I am practising magic."

First it was quiet and then there was someone chuckling. It was Christian. And everyone else (those who knew me well) gave him a look that was suppose to make him quiet. The one who started talking was Mikhail.

"But how can a human do magic? It doesn't make any sense." Mia, Christian, Lissa, Janine and Mikhail obviously thought that I was lying. But everyone else who seemed to know me well was shocked at what I just had said and knew that I wasn't lying. Only Eddie and Jill wasn't shocked. They were after all expecting this. Adrian was just irritable at surprises everyone had.

Dimitri started talking. "I have heard of dhampir using a special kind of magic. But a human? I have a hard time in believing all that voodoo rubbish," He sounded doubtful.

"Not that comrade." Rose said and tried to shake the surprise out of her face. "They are all fake tales old women tell that don't have a life."

I suddenly understood what he was talking about. Vrajitoare was a word in Romania and was similar to the word witch voodoo in English. But my magic had nothing with theirs.

"Well I can't predict the future, that's for sure. My magic has nothing with those kinds of witches. Mine is different." I started.

So I told about them about Mrs. Terwilliger and what I had discovered about the magic. Once in a while Adrian helped me by making comments. When I had told them about everything they just sat there quiet and waited for the other to answer.

"Well this is something new…" Lissa started and tried to give me a smile. Christian interrupted."If you now can use magic... can you show a magic trick?" He was asking out of curiosity and I knew he and some others wouldn't believe me if I didn't show them something that would prove that I wasn't lying. I saw Lissa elbow him. She thought that he was ill-mannered.

"You don't have too, but we would like to see it, if there's no harm done?" She started but Adrian interrupted.

"As long as she is using it, she needs to eat or drink anything with sugar. The magic is weakening her and drying everything out of her."

He was filling in the information that I hadn't told them. "But I can show you. I know some of you do still not really believe me. And really it's nothing." It wouldn't hurt showing them a fire ball. That should show them that I was telling them the truth. If I was them I wouldn't have believed it either unless I got evidence.

When no one said anything Adrian nodded toward Sonya, she understood that I was going to try perform magic. She moved her arm and gave me a little space.

I drew in a deep breath and turned my palm up. I concentrated on the fire I had done with Mrs. Terwilliger and closed my eyes. All my strength was on that fire ball. When I opened my eyes again the fire was there with its shining flames. I got surprised at how much I had missed the magic. Some one was gasping, I turned to look at the others. They were looking at the fire in shock. Even Eddie hadn't seen me do it and Adrian were looking at me concerned.

They knew that I could faint if I over-did it. I quenched the fire when I was sure that they all had seen it. Then I turned the palm down, exhausted. Suddenly something like an ice cream sounded like a really good idea; Adrian, who saw my tiredness, moved beside me and laid his arm around my shoulders. I leaned my head against the chest. And I was grateful that all of them didn't know that we were together. At the same time I heard someone break the silence.

"Sonn of a bitch. I'm coming back." Rose said quickly and was on her way toward the door.

"I didn't forget the bit when you need sugar to replenish yourself." Of course she didn't. If there was someone fussy about food, it had to be Rose. After that I heard everyone start to laugh in surprise. Even the guardians looked startled.

"Oh my god. You really are a witch. I am going to tell you the truth when I say that I had doubts from the beginning." Mia said and looked at me like I was a creature sent from the heaven. I wanted to tell her that I would have been too.

"Well not really a witch but I guess there isn't another word to describe people like me."

"There are more like you?" Lissa asked in surprise. She looked a bit thoughtful too. I guess I needed to be accustomed with her thoughtfulness.

What do you think?" Christian said and rolled his eyes."Did you even listen to the story about how she met the witch coven?" He asked her jokily with a smile playing on his lips. I hadn't met the witch coven.

"Hey!" She said and hit him lightly on the arm."I did listen! You are not the right person to judge when you couldn't even remember Sydney's last name." She pointed out.

Christian thought about arguing against that, but thought better of it. Adrian was yawning, clearly not trapped by the scene in front of him like I was. I didn't think it was possible that what I had just saw was true love. So many times I had seen it between Rose, Dimitri, Sonya and Mikhail. They actually really loved each other. I had heard the gossip that everyone was saying about them and I suddenly pitied them. I hoped that the strong love they had was going to last, even if there was going to be barriers between them. Their love actually reminded me about me and Adrian.

"Well now that the magic part is over, there is one more thing you need to know." He said and looked down at me. Just then Rose came in while she drank her drink.

"Want us to tell them about our lovely child?" Adrian said winking at me. I tried to sit up straighter. What was he doing? He was going to reveal out relationship.

"You have a child?!" Rose exclaimed when she spat out the drink she was holding in her hand. Then she made big eyes. Great. Just great.

Dimiri gave her a napkin and told her to relax. She told him that she couldn't relax because she just heard that Sydney had a kid with a vampire, and that he was; Adrian.

"Slow it down Hathaway!" Eddie said laughingly with Jill and Adrian who seemed to find all of this funny. Eddie didn't knew about our relationship but Jill knew; she laughed at everyone's confused expressions.

When he finally managed to stop laughing, he said, "I am coming back and then you all will understand." He made his way through the door. He was going to bring Hopper. I pushed Adrian away slightly and tried to sit a bit closer to Sonya. We had drawn attention to ourselves. Adrian was still grinning while I tried to keep a neutral face.

Rose came to me and gave my drink and Eddie returned, Hopper with him. The first thing everyone did was to stare at him, shocked. Then Hopper leaped out of Eddie's grip and ran over to me. Or Adrian. Every girl jumped away screaming. Except Jill and Janine. Janine looked too shocked to even do anything and Jill was looking at the scene adoringly.

The boys made big eyes and moved away from me. I thankfully took Hopper in my hands and patted him to soothe him while I put down the empty glass. I stood up and looked around. "Stop it. He's just a little dragon. He won't hurt you unless you try to hurt him!"

Everyone went quiet. I looked at Hopper and pointed at him.

"Does this look dangerous?" I asked them and gave them something to think on. Hopper was looking at me with adorably sweet eyes and was almost on the verge of crying. He was trembling with sadness.

When I looked up, I saw that Adrian was looking at Hopper too. It was almost like he wanted to kill everyone in the room for doing this to Hopper. The girls slowly sat back but were still staring at the dragon. Everyone was. Eddie and Jill pitied him. I sat down slowly and Hopper crawled down to me and buried its head in my knee. I patted him softly and murmured quiet nothings.

"What the hell is that?" Christian asked and broke the silence. Everyone else nodded, stunned. They were thinking like Christian too. Even Dimitri looked shocked.

"What do you think Ozera? Don't you see that it's a fucking sweet dragon and now you have scared it away!" Adrian said, almost yelling.

I quickly lay my hand over his and tried to send calming messages. He gave me a sad smile but was still angry.

"Everyone calm down, I am going to explain." I said and drew in a deep breath."My teacher, Mrs Terwilliger told me to do a spell. She didn't tell me what the consequences of that spell could be. And when I did it, it turned out to be a dragon. Adrian was with me and we both got scared," I looked at Adrian and remembered the moment we had there.

"When we managed to calm it down by giving it some pie, he fell asleep. When I called Mrs Terwilliger back, she told me that it was a Callistana dragon and he would help me by protecting me and warn me if there was any dark magic nearby." I shuddered when I thought of the dark magic. "She also told me that it disappears when it is ready and gets bonded to the first person it sees."

"But Adrian was with you." Lissa stated and frowned. "Doesn't that mean…?"

"Yes, it means that it's bonded to both of us. So if Adrian needs help, it would do anything to save him too." I said.

Immediately Rose commented."Aha…now I understand. You and Adrian are like parents to that thing." She said and pointed at the dragon.

"That thing has actually a name." Jill said with a smile.

"Oh yeah." Rose said casually and crossed her arms. "Like what?" She asked.

"Hopper." For a moment she got a funny expression and then she snorted. "No offence but isn't that a rabbit's name?"

"Yes it is and yes I am offended." Adrian said casually back and leaned backward. I wondered if he still felt hurt about that.

We talked the whole night about various things. Some came to pat the dragon. I felt the nervousness I had felt let go of me slowly. I realised that I could be the person I was.

Everyone in here had problems too, it wasn't just me and for that it felt good to talk. And I could talk about the magic and Hopper freely.

I didn't get the chance to talk to Janine in private. I didn't want to destroy the moment by talking about another problem. Soon everyone started to get tired and I felt extra tired because of the magic. I had not eaten food for three weeks properly. If I hadn't practiced magic, it wouldn't have taken so much out of me. That night when I went to bed, I fell a sleep immediately.

First, I thought that I was pulled in to a spirit dream but then I was surrounded by blackness. I looked around in panic. What was this?

"Don't look so scared. Don't you know where you are?" The person asked me. It was a female voice and sounded like she was right beside me. I had heard it before. Where had I heard it? Oh no, I thought.

"Veronica?" I asked, looking around like she was going to appear in front of me. It was one of those dreams again.

"Aren't you dead?" I asked, looking around. Please say that this is just a nightmare I tried to tell myself.

"It is nice to meet you too, now that is not a nice way of saying hi."

I was just quiet and looked around. She was using magic to get for me. But why?

"But Alicia…"I started.

"Alicia thinks that she killed me, but she didn't. I haven't pulled you into this dream to give you answers. I have an offer to you." She said.

What offer could she possible want to give me? It surely had something to do With dark magic.

"We need to meet somewhere hidden where no one can see,"

I snorted. "So that you can try and take my powers from me." I stated and looked determined for the first time. "Then I have something to tell you, there is no way that I am going to give my powers to you. They belong to me."

"If you don't meet me, I will search for you myself and when I do. I will," She went quiet for a moment. "Aha…I see how it is; young love. If I can't take you, then I will take him."

Oh no. Not Adrian! I looked around panicked. How did she know? Did she know that I loved Adrian?

"No." I said. I knew she was using him as a target. "Leave him out of this. I am coming on my own."

Great Sydney, I thought. How will that go, you can't even leave court without them noticing.

"Good, meet me at Palm Springs for further instructions. And don't think you can escape, I know that you aren't in Palm Springs. If you don't, I will come for Adrian." She said and with that the dream was disconnected.

I sat up on the bed and looked around. I was breathing heavily and feeling sweaty. I put my hand to my forehead and tried to slow my breathing down. What had I dragged myself into? I asked myself. This couldn't be on real. Veronica was dead. Alicia had killed her. But she wasn't. Both of them were alive and Veronica was after me. She was going to take my powers from me; I was going to get old like those other women.

I shook my head and lay back. I didn't sleep anything that night; instead I went into Adrian's room in the morning.

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_I really appreciate reviews, I don`t bite! ;)_

_Feeling so happy, my sister got her car license._


	8. Guardian meeting

_Hi everyone! So I wanted to start with the fact that this story is not about Re-education, I mean it was at the beginning but it is turning into something else. And I know I said that I would be busy, but I did actually get the time to write this chapter! :) With Ehlymana's help hopefully there will be no errors,(CherrySlushLover couldn't beta read this chapter because of computer problems)._

_The last thing I wanted to say before you read: viewers, I really hope that you will all like this. I need your support, I am like nothing without you. And then I mean all of you! To say what you want to say takes a great courage and I believe that you all have that courage! :)_

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**CHAPTER 8**

**Guardian meeting**

I told everything to Adrian about the visit but I didn't tell him anything about him being a target to Veronica. When I finished, he looked at me like he didn't understand what the problem was. And I didn't blame him.

He had boxer shorts and a t-shirt on. It looked like he had thrown the shirt on when I had

knocked. Good to know what he was wearing to sleep. For a moment, his chest was distracting me from my Veronica problems, even if he had a shirt over it; I was wondering what it would look like if he had nothing on-just on top!

I sighed. We needed to discuss our relationship, something I was surprisingly looking forward. I had ended up getting involved in 'witch problems' again. This meant that we needed to discuss it another time.

"Trust me, I am surprised that Veronica is still alive and the dream visit is bothering me but you won't go anyway. Unless there is something I am missing?" He asked and crossed his arms, not letting me get too distracted by his chest and I was thankful that he did. I was surprised at how he remembered her name.

Was it a good idea to tell him? _Yes_, an inner voice told me. He had the right to know that he was in danger because of me.

"Veronica was threatening me with using you as a target," I said at last.

"And why am I hearing this now, Sage?" He said.

I looked up at him. "I did tell you. I told you just now."

"Yes, you did. But you weren't going to tell me. Why?" He asked. How could he not figure that out; didn't he know? I sat down on the bed and buried my head in my hands. All I saw were white walls and people telling me that they were monsters…

"Because I wanted to protect you...I," Why was it so hard for me to say a simple sentence. Adrian seemed to understand my uneasiness and sighed. He sat down beside me on the bed and took my hands in his.

They were still there. What had I done; I had turned my back on my family

and got involved in things that I didn't want to get involved in.

Just look at yourself Sydney: you're going to end up dying or at least getting old and others are going to get hurt too.

"Sage, look at me."

"I am so sorry, Adrian, it shouldn't be so hard for me to say it," He shook his head and clenched my hands, sending shock waves. I looked up at him and was surprised to see understanding.

"I do understand, Sydney. We never really got the chance to be together. You don't need to force yourself to tell me that you love me." I did love him but I never got the chance to tell him that because there was a call on his phone. He released my hands and answered the phone, breaking the tension.

"Hello, Jailbait and no, you are not disturbing us," He said, grinning, then he wrinkled his eyebrows pensively and looked at me. "We will be there as soon as possible." He disconnected and went to his wardrobe.

"What's going on?" I asked. I had a feeling there was something serious going on.

"I don't know, the only thing Jill said was that we needed to meet her and some other guardians."

"Well, do you have any idea...?" I started, when I saw that he was undressing. "Hey, there is actually someone in your room!" I almost exclaimed and turned away from him. I was blushing, almost wishing that I hadn't gone into his room.

"Done!" He said after a while. "And you can look at me however much you want, Sage. My body is a sight someone wouldn't want to miss." He said as I turned to face him. He had changed into a white shirt with chinos. I smiled evilly.

"There is something you have missed," I said. He looked suspiciously at me.

"What?" He asked as I went closer to him.

"Your hair!" I said laughingly as I ruffled his hair. Adrian styled his hair all the time but hadn't got the time today. Even when he had gotten up

directly from bed, it looked hot. I loved his hair and was just kidding with him, and he knew it. He took my hands in one of his and used the other to ruffle my hair.

"No!" I shrieked. "Adrian stop it, you're going to spoil my hair- which I took ages on!"

I said as I tried to get away from his hands. He was grinning.

"Yeah, well I didn't even have the chance to fix my hair this morning and you did. Still my hair looks hotter." He was joking and stopped to hear out my answer.

"Ehm…no! My still looks better." I said as I tried to get away from him laughingly. He was laughing too and was about to ruffle my hair again.

"I am going to stop if you say sorry." He said and looked at me with a grin on his face.

"Okay, okay. I am sorry!" I said and he stopped. "And…" He said with one eyebrow raised. In that moment he looked so happy.

"And…you have hotter hair than me." Just then I realized that his arm was around my waist with our bodies pressed against each other. Our faces were only a few inches away. I was so trapped by him that I couldn't breathe. He was still smiling and brought his face closer. And then just like that, we were kissing. He tangled his fingers with mine and brought the other hand to my hair. I still had my hand on his chest and could feel the loving rhythm of his heartbeat under my hand. Was I making him feel that way? Was he feeling what I felt too? The kiss started to turn into more and I wrapped my arms around his neck. In that moment it was just me and him, until someone opened the door.

Crap.

Why were we always interrupted at these kind of situations? The _sydrian_ _moments_.

Adrian and I flew away from each other. _Sydrian_ moments. What was I thinking? Whatever was going on in my head, I was still tensed. I felt my heart pound and I looked at the door. I relaxed just slightly when I saw who it was.

Jill was standing in the doorway with the door (thank God) closed behind her, her arms crossed. Her face showed that she was ready to shout at us.

"Jailbait!" Adrian said and tried not to make the situation look like how it was.

Then it was like something changed in her. "Look. I am really happy about what you guys feel for each other. But Adrian! I told you to come as fast as you could to the guardian room. Not to start kissing… and Eddie was going to come up. I told him to stay. Just imagine how the situation would look like if he did actually show up. Like now." Then she softened a bit. "Don't you think you have lied enough to him?" Then she looked at me. "To everyone." I had almost forgotten the bond. She was right, what had we been thinking? But it wasn't really our fault, she should know. It just happened.

"Sorry Jill, we didn't mean to," I said. What I actually meant was that we got distracted.

She sighed and said something about how it was okay, and then she told us to hurry to the guardian room. As we were heading toward the room, I thought of Veronica. What was I supposed to do? And how did she plan on "kidnapping" Adrian?

I needed to go back to Palm Springs. But I knew that no one would let me leave Court. But I was curious to find out what offer she had for me. I certainly wished it was dark magic. Because then I knew that I wouldn't want to get involved in that offer.

Adrian, who saw my worry, promised me to talk about it later. I was happy that he still cared about me. We would take care of each other and Veronica wouldn't take him away from me. Whatever she was planning on doing with him.

The room we were heading towards was like a small building inside of the Court. When we reached the front door of the building, Jill left us, telling that she wasn't allowed to follow us. She needed to do some business with the queen.

The first thing that hit me when the door opened was that the ceiling was pretty low. Adrian almost needed to duck as we went in. I wanted to laugh; finally there was an advantage with being short. I wasn't that short but still got annoyed with constantly being around slim and tall bodies.

When the carpeted corridor came to an end, there were two other corridors - one on our left and and one on our right side. The guardians really owned some mysterious places and I guessed they liked to have it for privacy from the Moroi.

Every step closer screamed that we were invited to a guardian meeting. "Now what?" I wanted to ask Adrian, but I didn't need to because there was a guardian who appeared on my right side. I jumped nearly three feet up in the air. Where in the Earth did he come from?

"This way," He said simply and started to move toward the direction he just had appeared from. I looked at Adrian as we were following the guardian. He seemed to be in deep thoughts. Sometimes I envied Adrian's calmness.

'He has lived here more than you, Sydney', a little voice remembered me. Of course he had.

The guardian stopped in front of a door and opened it. There were about ten guardians in the room. Some I knew; Janine, Dimitri and Rose.

"You're late." Dimiri stated.

"Yeah, we're sorry. Jill needed help with something," I simply said and let the small lie go. No one noticed it. Except Adrian. We sat down on the chairs around the table. I was right, this was a guardian meeting. What could they possibly want? Maybe there was a problem going on with the Strigoi.

"What is going on? Why did you call us in here?" I asked and looked at Rose and Dimitri. The one that answered was a man in his fifties with a grey moustache, but was built like a wrestler.

"It is about the little "war" going on between the Alchemists and our kind." There was no understanding in what "our kind" meant. Vampires. I looked up in surprise. I suddenly understood what he was talking about. What this whole meeting was about. It was about the rebellion. Something I wanted to ask Janine more information about.

"The rebellion," I said, nodding. "I don`t know anything about that, except that there was..." I had nearly said "war". "Something going on between them." I said and looked around. The man that had grey hair lifted his eyebrows.

"I thought Miss Hathaway had filled you in with information by this time."

I looked up at Janine who was looking at the guardian.

"Hans," So that was what the guardian's name was. "I didn`t inform her. Remember, we didn`t even have the exact information at that time." What did she mean? Dimitri and Rose had surprisingly got silent through the whole conversation. Still, what could they say?

"I guess you`re right," He said and shrugged, suddenly looking like he was very tired. He looked back at me. "You see, there has been a conflict between your kind and the vampires." Could he stop saying kind all the time? Adrian stiffened beside me. Your kind. He thought that I was still one of them. Adrian was about to interrupt him, but I gave him a reassuring look. Hans continued without noticing anything.

"At the beginning, we had the control over the situation. In fact, we _were_ in control. But there were some alchemists who escaped. And there is nothing we can really do about it now. Almost every one of them were taken down. And when I say taken down, I mean they improved their ways of dealing with everything. So there wasn't technically really a fight going on. There were just a few who managed to escape. And the problem here is that they are going to do whatever is in their power to build up the Alchemists back to how it was. That is one of the reasons that you and others aren't allowed to leave Court without protection. "

"Who managed to escape?" I asked. It felt like I already knew, but I asked anyway. Hans drew in a deep breath and picked up a file.

"We don't have the names, we didn't find them. But there are some pictures we managed to take from the Alchemists taken down." He gave the file to me and I took it in my hands.

The first picture was of Stanton. I wasn't really that shocked. She had a really powerful status and she was my "ex" boss that I used to keep updated with information. The next pictured were of two other pepole

that I hadn't met before.

"What happened to Keith Darnell?" I asked them when I saw another picture of Keith's dad. "What happened to those who were re-educated?" I asked again and looked around. Adrian got surprised when I asked about him. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Keith and Re-education. But I needed to know.

"I don't know who he is. But those who were brainwashed are interrogated and safely free." Safely free. Safely free! I may have been feeling pity towards him the last time I saw him, but I still thought he was a disgusting person and to be honest I was scared about the things he would do if he was actually free.

"What do you mean by 'safely free'?" I almost exclaimed. "What happened to Keith Darnell? And how do you know it is safe to free them?" I was starting to feel nervous now and I think they had figured out in what he had been exposed.

"Calm down, Sydney." Dimitri said and I could see Adrian glare at him. But right now I cared about what happened to Keith. "The Alchemists are taking care of them. What Hans meant was that the Alchemists who got "too close to vampires" are free. But the re-educated with other problems are still being taken care of. Not in a…," He hesitated for a moment. "Miserable way like yours." I didn't felt insulted at all. And I knew they didn't like the idea of brainwashing people for things that I and others couldn't help but feel.

"And remember, Sage. Keith was selling vampire blood. I don't think it is likely they'll free him." He was right. I looked at Adrian and calmed down a bit. I knew he was trying to help me. I sighed and looked down at my hands.

"So what's the problem that caused this conflict? Why didn't it happen until now? Why didn't it happen before?" I knew that it was the main question that I never could figure out. Rose looked like she expected me to ask this. From the look in everyone's troubled faces, it was something I wouldn't like. Instead, she answered me softly.

"I can't understand that you haven't figured that out yet. Don't you think there have been strange things happening lately in your life?" A look from Adrian made her say what she was supposed to say. He didn't like what was coming next. Because the next sentence brought everyone's faces at me.

"You are the reason to this, Sydney."

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_Thank you to followers, favouriters and reviews. (And my beta reader CherrySlushLover. She is not only my beta reader, she is a wonderful supporter and friend. Thank you to Ehlymana too, for being there for me when I need you and being such an amazing supporter\friend.)_

_And viewers too, for reading my story!_


	9. Calling Marcus

_Hi everyone!_

_And I feel the need to thank reviewers I never knew how to thank you guys before, but it seems like Ehli sorted it out for me! ;)_

_**If you have ever reviewed any of my chapters, please take your time reading my responses to you!**_

_CherrySlushLover, thank you for taking your time talking to me, reading my story, beta reading it and doing so many more favours. Both you and Ehli is one of the reasons to why I am writing. I hope you will have time reading my updates and tell me what you think. And I hope you are nothing studying yourself to death! _

_Ehlimana, thank you for being such an amazing sister (with other words everything) to me and supporting my story. I love you both very much in the very own unique way you are! Thank you, I love you both! You deserve more than I can give you in this author note. :D This big smile is for both of you! That is how you make me feel._

_Dedicated reader, I miss\missed you and your sister. You both are fascinating. ;) And as usual you are the one who dare with the criticism, love you extra for that!_

_Jemily145, thank you for reviewing and telling me what you think! Also, about the other story (Three-heart-Crash) I decided to do that one instead of Behind the porcelain-doll. And I would love you for beta reading it, if you give me your email this time. I hope we can work this out. And I am really sorry for your account thing, can you log in from your facebook account?_

_Totalbooknerd13_,_ I am so glad you found my story! And I really hope you will like what will come up next._

_Sam1405, I am trying! I wish I could update every day for you, but it is so hard to find time. I am so glad you like my story! And I have a fun time talking about painting with you. ;D_

_LALALA, New reviewer! Hi, and thank you. I am trying; I hope I will be able to keep this story as amazing as you think! And also, you always write beautiful reviews on my stories, and I am so glad I can finally say this double THANK YOU to you! :)_

_Useless at usernames, hello Mei! You took your time, reading and reviewing every chapter and I am so thankful you did! Maybe you don`t have any idea how much your support means to me, but it is huge! Thank you!_

_Miss MegatronIvashkov, so glad you decided to read my chapter! And once again, yeah I am sorry for the cliffhanger, I have noticed I am pretty good at leaving my chapters with cliffhanger. ;D Hopefully, you will like Sydney`s reaction, if not? I don`t know what to do!_

_Someone, thank you! And I am so glad you like the cliffhangers. And I am trying to do my best in English, I am happy I have a beta reader thought._

_So you all reviewed chapter eight! A big THANK YOU to all of you! But my reviewers from the other chapters are left. Don`t think you guys can escape from my author note!_

_sydney_ ivahkov,_ I am jealous on your name! I hope you are not reviewing because of how this story is turning? I hope I am not disappointing you with where this leads? As for you _

_Jess, I remember you too! Where are you two? At least tell me you are still reading my story. And I am sorry for my loss of Sydrian._

_Kris, I hope you are still reading my story? And thank you for your review! Maybe I should write Jill's POV more often. ;) As for Hopper, lots of Hopper in chapter seven I think, and chapter six! But thank you for reminding me of him. I almost forgot that sweetie._

_rainy and JaneS, you guys where did you go?! And tell me you're still reading my story, please! Tell me something. You were one of the first one that reviewed on chapter 2, before my friends I made her and now you are going to give up on me?_

_mouse42069, I feel the urge to tell you sorry. I feel bad for not answering your reviews! But I want you to know that I am grateful you took your time reviewing, telling me your reaction and thank you. I also hope that you are still reading my story!_

_Guest,_ _(from chapter two) I don't think I managed to continue the story like how you expected? Please say that you are still thinking that I am a great writer and thinking this story is decent! I want you back; at least tell me you are reading so that I won't feel bad!_

_Two guest from chapter one, I would love to get a name next time (will there be a next review?). And I also hope your still reading this story! And of course thank you to you both!_

_Red runner, do you still love this more than the others? I miss you! I haven`t forgot you, how could I?_

_Bloodlinesfan, you were one of my first reviewer, that is why I need to tell you that I miss your support too. And I am glad I can finally say, THANK YOU to you too! I don`t know why, but it feels like you understand where I want to get with this story. :)_

_You guys, if I have forgot anyone, give me a shout?_

_Yeah, this author note got very long. But you all deserved it! But this doesn`t mean that I haven`t forgot my followers or favouriters! I can see you too! ;)_

_And what means the world to me is viewers of course! That is what matters the most to me. :) And I am going to let you read chapter nine now, before all of you fall asleep!_

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**CHAPTER 9**

**Calling Marcus**

What was she saying? No, this couldn't be real. The reason of this conflict was me. I had forced alchemists to change their way of ruling, and all of that was because of me. I couldn't think clearly; I was always used to knowing things. This? This was out of my league.

Instead of saying anything I looked at the two other pictures. I felt my heart pound uncontrollably. I lay Jared's- my father- and the rest of the pictures on the table. I didn't really care about him. The face that looked at me with big pale eyes so identical to mine; Zoe. She was what mattered.

Just a month ago I would have done everything in my power to save her from becoming an alchemist. And now she was seeing me as an enemy. This pained me. Who knew, maybe I wouldn't be able to meet her again. It was frustrating, thinking of how I would have done everything to protect her from Keith. All of that didn't seem to matter anymore when he was locked away, according to the information I had here.

I looked up at the rest and lay the pictures back slowly on the table. It was quiet in the room. It felt like the tension in the room was going to explode. The sun was streaming in from the window. They were waiting for me to say something and Adrian was looking at me like he expected an outburst. But I wasn't going to.

"How can I be the reason?" I almost whispered. Janine looked at me with sympathy for a moment, and then her face showed nothing.

"They know that you started it. Some look up to you. And other see you as a treat. But they can't do anything, they are very few. The only one that will do whatever is in their power to trap you are those si

x people. If we don't convince them, you are in danger because of what you caused."

Even if I hadn't said everything I had wanted to say. Rose saw my worry of being the one to cause all of this trouble.

"It isn't your fault. We were the ones that saved you. We broke in to that damn centre. But after that video, where everyone could hear you talk like you didn't care about what the alchemists told you and you mentioned Marcus Finch, things changed." She paused like she wanted to give me a chance to absorb everything. It was weird hearing them talk about Marcus, like he was a normal subject to bring up. "They started to search for Marcus Finch on their databases and tried

to get information about who he was." Dimitri continued. "They saw a reason. They knew that if the alchemist lied about him. What else could they hide?"

It was making sense now. I remembered when I had talked with Jared and Zoe at the centre and mentioning Marcus. The video tape must have somehow recorded our conversation. I felt myself clench my teeth when I thought of the slap my father had give me. All of this must have somehow showed them that they were hiding secrets. From their own people. Like the cowards they were, the top alchemists had run away and left the others in the hand of vampires. Even Michelson and Barnes weren't in the pictures.

I shivered as I thought of how angry they must be. And how my father was boiling over with disappointment. He had never seen me as his real daughter. He saw his work as more important than me. And now his job was to build back the alchemists to how they were before by using me. If

they caught me, they would try and convince me to tell the alchemists more lies to cover up the lie they started. Or would they just kill me? The old feeling crept into me. I felt like trapped in the middle.

For a moment I thought of running out of the door and leaving them with the problem. Veronica was enough, but I wasn't in the place to make that decision.

_You can't give up now Sydney. It was meant to be like this. It was meant for you to help alchemists in the right way._ Something inside told me.

Meant? Was this how alchemists had always felt- what I was feeling right now?

I looked back at the picture on Zoe. The golden lily on her cheek didn't mock me anymore. What made me angry was that she was on the wrong side and had been lied to by our father. I wasn't going to be able to save her anymore. She had chosen a side. For her, it was too late.

And Carly? She was safe in college. She was always going to be my big sister and friend. Dad? (Or should I say my new enemy) He was out of the question. It was clear my relation to him was-and is- cut. And my mum? This time I clenched my fists. I loosened them when I noticed this. I had no idea what she was doing or where she was. It seemed like I needed to do a trip "home" to Salt lake.

"I am sure I can figure out a solution," I said and looked up from the pictures. They relaxed slightly when they saw that I was accepting all of this. This was going to be difficult, but I was ready. _Let the hard work begin._

So I told them my plan. I had Marcus' phone number in my purse. He had given it to me when he was heading to Mexico. The time when he thought that I was going with him. But I never did and that number was still with me. He had thought that I would change my mind. We both had feared my re-education trip, and I prayed that he had the same number.

Now I was heading back to my room with Adrian. We were going to try to call him from there.

On our way, I saw the vampires look strangely at me. When I turned my head to Adrian, I saw that his hand was clenched but he ignored them. When he saw that I was looking at him, he put an arm around my shoulders, like he could protect me from the eyes everyone had on us. I hastily understood why. They thought that Adrian and I were together, or something. From the way the few guardians in the room had acted, the rebellion thing seemed to be a secret among the vampires. But not the alchemists.

"Adrian, we need to talk about our relationship," I said when the door to my room was closed behind us. He shook his head. "The phone-call first, Sage."

Of course we would take the phone call first. Even if the relationship was a problem, the alchemist problem was bigger. I sighed and went to my purse. He was thinking about my safety before our relationship. That made me happy secretly.

I fished out my phone and found Marcus' number in the contact list. I felt myself loosen in relief and then came to an abrupt halt. What if they tried to track me by using my phone? _Don't be stupid, Sydney. They already know that you are at else would you be? _

I shook my head at my pointless worrying and asked Adrian for his phone to be on the safe side.

And besides, I didn't want them to eavesdrop my conversation with Marcus.

"Who is this?" I hared someone demand in the other line. Typical, I thought and saw Adrian roll his eyes, like he thought Marcus was entertaining. Which was kind of funny, since the last time they had met, they had been in a fight. That had been kind of entertaining-as Adrian had called it; manly and brave. But I had gone between the two men and stopped the fight before it had gone too far. Before I could utter a word, Adrian bent near the phone.

"This is the guy who kicked your ass at my house. Do you remember me, Marco?" It was quite for a while and then in disbelief. "You? What the hell do you want? And how did you get my number?"

Before Adrian could respond, I elbowed him. "Adrian!"

"Sydney? Is that you?" I heard Marcus voice lilt slightly in surprise. I saw Adrian glare at the voice, but turned surprisingly silent.

"Hello Marcus. Yes it`s me. Sorry for calling you, I know it's risky. But I need to ask you a favour and thought you wanted to know something." There was no laughter in his voice when he said,

"If you are talking about your re-education, I know. But what is unclear is how the hell you managed to turn everything into such a mess."

I grew rigid in surprise at his words. Their attempt at brainwashing me was not a surprise. But the rest was. Adrian looked surprised too, his entire body taut with trying to repress what he was going to say.

"What do you mean?" I asked uncertainly.

"Don't play stupid with me, Sydney. I know about the "rebellion" as you call it. Do you know how difficult everything is now?" This was certainly not what I had expected. Believe me, I hate to ask people for favours, this was just one favour. But this coming from Marcus? I hadn't expected it. I had always been as determined as him about freeing the alchemists.

"You are unbelievable! Just two months ago you wanted help to get you and your merry men to the safe side. What I wanted to say was that everything has changed; the alchemists are changing." I was scared of his answer and looked up at the ceiling. If he felt insulted because of the merry men phrase, he didn't say anything, though I caught a slight hint of sadness in his voice.

"That's true, Sydney. I wanted us to be safe. Not involved in more trouble. Not even your vampire friends can track down those. And you know what I am talking about; I know that some of them are still on the run."

I couldn't blame him for not wanting to help me. My mind slowly processed what he was saying. The favour I wanted to ask him before made no sense anymore. It seemed like Marcus had gotten some information on his own, and that he was too scared of risking his and the group's lives. Something that had been building up slowly? And now I was putting all their lives in danger. It didn't sound fair. But I still needed him and had thought he would agree to this because of how important all of this seemed to him and how much he had fought for it his whole life.

"Marcus, you know I can't do this without you. You are the only one who understands the wrongness and flaws in the alchemist system as well as I do. Just think of the possibilities if those six people are convinced." It was true; Adrian may be the love of my life and understand almost everything in my life, but only Marcus could understand this. The response in return was shocking.

"I know that, Sydney. But if you really think about it properly, do you really think we can convince them? They won't listen… and let me guess, your plan is to have me as backup to help those alchemists see the right way. Then I am sorry. Because I don't want to risk losing what I have fought for these past years. They won't listen to me and as long as you are there, things will eventually end up in disaster."

That was not really entirely my plan. But his words stopped me from asking him for help. Because something reminded me that as long as the runaways were out, they could somehow have contact with those who were taken down. In that way Marcus was right. In other words, I was putting everyone's lives on the line.

Adrian had restlessly got silent. He knew that interrupting wouldn't help and he seemed to be in deep thought, like our conversation was something important to think of. I swallowed hopelessly before I said,

"If that is what you really think is right to do, then I won't bother you. I hope you and the group keep yourself safe. And…I am really sorry for trying to bring you into this mess." I wasn't really sorry. This was his mess as much as it was mine. He had been an alchemist too; he should understand the principles in all of this. But as much as I hate to admit it, all of this couldn't end up well. And I was definitely the one who caused this mess.

"I won't help you, Sydney. That's my decision. Clean up your mess yourself…and good luck. You will really need it. Everything is in your hands now. Remember that all of this won't just come automatically; you'll have to be thorough. Good bye." With that, Marcus Finch disconnected. I stared at the phone for a second before turning it off. _You need to be thorough. Was this all really about him and his group being safe? Or was there something he was hiding from me?_

I looked at Adrian and shook Marcus from my mind. What was the point of thinking about him when he wouldn't be able to help me? Because you thought he was your _friend._ I swallowed before I looked back at Adrian and lay the phone in his hand. I didn't notice he was looking at me until I returned the phone.

"You okay, Sage? I mean I never thought Marco would decline the offer either." A smile twitched. When I looked at Adrian sometimes, I wondered why he had fallen for a girl full of problems. His concern was actuating.

"Adrian, how did I end up in this mess? I mean I was a totally different person like just some months ago. And you were there to witness it all. Look at me now; in a whole bunch of mess I never thought I would end up in." I shook my head and looked up at him with an uncertain small smile on my lips. Confusingly, Adrian was grinning. It was clear he didn't care about having Marcus as a helper.

"And what you forget, my cupcake," he said while he draw me closer to him. I immediately felt comfortable. "Is that you are not alone in all of this." I looked up at his beautiful green eyes and smiled. I loved Adrian so much, someone forbidden. But I didn't care. Because I suddenly understood that I would never be able to live without him. Was this how love felt? Having the person so close to you but living in fear of losing him? Or was it just us that were unlucky?

But I knew that if I hadn't gotten into all of this mess and problems, Adrian wouldn't have been in my life. This made me push back the hopeless feeling and feel brighter about my life.

* * *

_So I know that was not how you expected Marcus to answer. But my story tells me this is how it is going to lead, so what can I really do? _

_Have a nice day everyone, see you soon! _


	10. Trying Veronica

_Thank you so much my beta reader CherrySlushLover, for taking your time correcting my story when you are killing yourself with studies! Witch by the way I should to. You know how much I love you! ;D_

_THANK YOU, Ehlimana (I hope you are OK my lovely sis!?), Totalbooknerd (my funny girl!), Happygirl0987, Sam1405, jpitt, rainy (yes, my rainy is back!) and Jemily145 (for Jemily, I think you need to do space in between when you write your email, because it wasn`t typed when you wrote the review) for your wonderful reviews!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and I do not claim to know Latin!_

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**CHAPTER 10**

**Trying Veronica**

Just because I loved Adrian, it didn't mean that I had forgotten my problems. The only thing I wanted to do was run away with him and let him hold me.

But I still had to take care of my problems; I knew that if I didn't take care of this soon, everything would turn really horrible. I wasn't talking about myself, I meant everyone else, like my friends…and my mum. They would also get involved in my mess. I just knew I had to pay a visit to her. Marcus was right about me involving everyone in this.

"You didn't see her. She was really serious. I can't risk losing you; I have to pay a visit to Palm Springs and find out what she wants…not that I don't already know what she wants." We were discussing Veronica. I was trying to tell him that I should pay a visit to Palm Springs. But it seemed like Adrian disagreed.

"Wait, you saw her? I thought you said you couldn't see her." He was surprised. I sighed. This was going to take a while. "Adrian that is not the point and you know it. You know what crazy witches can do, like Alicia. I can't risk anything happening to you."

"But Sage, why do you want to go when you already know what "offer" she has for you?" I looked away from him.

The truth was that I didn't really think all of this was about Veronica taking my powers from me. Adrian thought this was a trap. Me? Deep inside something told me that there was something else going on. Was it really an offer she wanted to give me? What could she possibly want from me?

I looked back at Adrian, who was looking at me with a look that said "I have an idea so why are you worrying?"

Yeah, he had a look that said that.

Before he could say a word. "What? I know you have something going on in that big head of yours,"

"Well, I am not going to lie to you, I mean I know how much you hate using magic, even if I love it when you do."

"The point?" I said, whilst I tried to understand where this was leading.

"I think you should do one of those witch dreams and prepare a speech for Veronica. I know you are good at that. And before you say a word," he quickly added when he saw that I was about to interrupt him.

"If Veronica can do witch dreams, why not you? Besides, we have Jackie," He said, clearly proud of himself. I looked at him incredulously and a grin formed on his lips.

He was right; I had almost forgotten her. If she could tell me how to do one of these dreams, I could talk back to Veronica and tell her to stay away from him. But would it work, would she stop? I wouldn't lose anything by trying! Adrian's ideas were always surprisingly brilliant. I was just about to tell him how brilliant he was when I remembered something.

"But what am I supposed to tell her? Stay away from Adrian or I will…? I don't have anything to threaten her with, Adrian!" I turned to him just as he pressed one of those swoon-worthy kisses on my forehead. He placed his hands on my shoulders. It was obvious he wasn't worried about this.

I looked up at him.

"You will come up with something. You are smart, you always do.

Now, stop worrying and let's talk about more important things." I looked up at him in disbelief.

"You mean this isn't already?"

Did he…? Did he want to talk about our relationship?

He released my shoulders. "No, of course not! I was just kidding, Sage! Relax, I am talking about our hot relationship." At that I smiled.

"What is there to discuss?" It was true. What was there really to say? I had been looking forward to this, but I kind of felt uncertain now. I sighed.

"Adrian. We can't be together around people here. Jill was right, we have been already lying enough to people. And she is the only one here who knows about this. And I don't think they will like it."

"What if we just tell them instead of hiding it?" It was easier said than done. I saw how much he wanted this and how much I wanted this. Being together, where we belonged. We needed to stay close, but it wasn't time for relationships. I remembered how the vampires had looked at us some moments ago. I shook my head.

"Now is not a good idea. After all these problems are sorted, I promise we can tell them. Not now. We need to act normal in front of everyone. Okay, Adrian?"

"You promise we can be together after all of this." I smiled and took his hand in mine. I looked straight in his eyes.

"Promise forever." Would I have told him that some months ago?

He smiled back at me and looked relived. He took my hand in his. My skin burned from where he had touched it. When he was looking at me, it felt like he was touching my soul. I never thought I would fall in love, and never had I thought it would be a vampire that loved me too. Neither did I know that my relationship would be forbidden.

It was better we acted normal through all of this. And when the time came, we would tell our friends about our relationship. And I certainly hoped I would not be in Court when we told them. I mean, this was a nice place, but it didn't feel like home. It felt like I didn't belong here. This was a place for vampires, not humans like me.

Unfortunately we couldn't spend our time together staring at each other. Adrian had called Mrs. Terwilliger, as I wanted to talk to her. It was Adrian who had considered that he should be the one to call her. She would ask me too many questions. It was pretty sad; because I hadn't talked to her since the day I was dragged to the re-education centre. I hadn't talked or had the chance to say goodbye to her or my friends in Palm Springs. Were they thinking of why I had left so suddenly?

Just when I came out of the bathroom, Adrian disconnected.

"How did it go? Did you write everything?" He gave me the note he had written and explained how it was going to be done. I thought that this was going to be something like the spell I did at Sonya's wedding half a year ago. But apparently not.

"Sage, this is not really a spell. Jackie said that this is classed more as storing and unleashing the power you have."

I frowned.

"Dark magic?" I asked, looking up at him from the note. He shook his head.

"Veronica is using dark magic to create those dreams. She said you need to remember that us spirit users are using the magic from inside ourselves."

I remembered that she had said something similar to me the first time I had heard of witches existing.

"You need to do exactly the opposite," He continued. "Outside in. What you are going to do is the only simple and possible way to create a dream. According to what she said," he added quickly.

"So all I have to do is read the verse. Which, by the way, I hope you have spelled right!" I grinned at him. "And then I need to concentrate on trying to use magic from the outside and at the same time be asleep. But at the same time not be fully asleep." It was sounding really weird to my ears. But if this really was the easiest way then I needed to do this.

I thought back to when I had done that spell back then and how weak I had felt afterwards. This was different though; I needed to create a dream.

"You got it right. And if it makes you feel better, she spelled the letters. So I am pretty sure it is right," he said.

I put the note on the table decisively and crossed my arms.

"Let's do this, then." I looked back at him when I remembered something. "Maybe it is better if you go. This is going to take a while. To be half asleep and do magic at the same time is going to be difficult." It was around ten in the evening, and although this was the time he would be awake, I was feeling bad for having him here the whole day. Well, except through that guardian meeting.

"There is no way I am leaving you alone with this, Sage. I'm staying." I was rolling up my sleeves and looked up at him and smiled.

"You're going to catch me when I pass out?" He was slowly smiling when he remembered what I was remembering. And the answer was just what I hoped for.

"Gladly." We stared at each other for a moment. All I wanted to do was run up to him and kiss him and tell him how much I loved him. But I shook away that feeling and turned my head abruptly to the note on the table. I picked it up. I must admit that Adrian's handwriting was really nice. More than nice, beautiful.

The words and meaning was in Latin, but as I had learnt Latin, I could read it through really fast and understand what it meant immediately.

_Tum somni_

_Uolo te perveniat per noctes tenebris splendorem_

_At quaero licentia in minibus natura_

_Ubi non est meum ac magicae ex energi_

_Dimitte me ingredi liceat intrare_

_Ego sum ad auxilium petentes super vos dormimentes noruntque_

"Are you sure this is the only thing I am supposed to read?" I asked Adrian again for the millionth time. This time he just nodded his head and made himself comfortable in the armchair. I decided to trust him and went to the bed, making myself comfortable. What if this didn't work? What if I failed? Adrian draw a chair close to the bed and took my hand in his.

"Sydney, you can do this. You can talk to that witch and you can create a dream. You are one of the most strongest person I ever know. You have my faith. I believe in you."

I almost wanted to cry. Adrian believed in me. My eyes watered but I hastily closed my eyelids and forced them to not fall. I swallowed hard as I felt a lump in the throat. This was the only thing I needed to hear.

I opened my eyes once I had gotten my tears under control and nodded slowly at the beautiful angel beside my bed.

"You are right. I can do this." He nodded back at me and released my hand. Maybe the warmth from his hand was gone, but his proximity and words calmed me down. I brought up the note and read the words again with all my power. When I was done, I put it down and closed my eyes.

I concentrated on the words and tried to bring its meaning into reality. I also tried to relax and fall asleep. That was the hard part. I felt the magic, it was there somewhere in my conscience, waiting for me to step in and connect with it. But I couldn't fall asleep. Was this how Adrian and other spirit users felt when they were creating dreams? All I kept thinking about was Veronica taking Adrian away from me and torturing him.

_Sydney, if you want to save him, you need to try to fall asleep. _

By this time, I could feel perspiration pouring down my back, my breathing shallow and quick. My heart finally slowed down as I tried to relax.

I didn't know how long it had taken or what the time was. But I felt myself slowly being drawn into blackness and just like that, I was inside Veronica's head.

I had created a dream.

* * *

_You guys, I dont know about witch magic or latin. Hopefully we will get to know about more witchy magic in the Fiery heart!_

_Also, I am really sorry for late updates, I am busy and have school plus my beta reader is really busy with school too. And I hate to update when I am unsure._

_I am updating on my school lesson, so I hope this shows how much I love you all, see you soon! xxx_


	11. This is my dream

_Hey guys! So thank you to Cherryslushlover for beta reading and doing so much more! Take care of your sis now! And dedicated reader, really? I did it! No critisism from you this time! Love you and please take care of yourself. Ehlimana, love you so much sis. Always feeling wonderful when I read your reviewes. Also sorry for reading your updates so late, I am going to read them soon. :)_

_So rainy, you asked me if my first lang was english. The answer is no. I know right! We just read english like three times a week. It is like an international language that everyone needs to know. I just love english so much, writing is a part of it. And pepole from Sweden are called swedish pepole, yes. I am born and grown up in Sweden but my parents are actulley from Afghanistan. And don`t worry, I love Jacki too! She is coming somewhere... Also thank you! And stop depressing about your studies and do your best or else I am going to kill you. I know you are a smart, wonderful person!_

_Thank you too happygirl0987! bukworm13 for talking with me and starting to read on my story. It means a lot!_

_I love you all very much! And I will update as soon as I have written on chap 12. _

* * *

**CHAPTER 11**

**This is my dream**

The contents of my dream were befuddling, to say the least.

Okay, I was going to be honest. I had never thought of what dream-walking would be like and I definitely had never thought I would create one. When Mrs. Terwilliger had introduced me to the crazy world of witches, I had been involved with psychotic witches hunting me and using magic. Using magic was something I would have never thought I would be able to do. I didn't even know witches existed before moving to Palm Springs.

That was out of the alchemists' belief system. It was also one of the reasons why I broke my tattoo. They were lying about the keepers, witches and so many other things. And I was something that I wasn't allowed to be according to their rules. Then there was a rebellion started because of me and the alchemists had changed their way of ruling and even that was all because of me.

Creating a dream was a big step in my life despite everything I had managed to achieve before; I was scared of it. Also, I wasn't really sure how I was going to control it. Because the dream felt like I was in a normal dream but I could control everything just with my thoughts.

When I looked around I saw that I was in a field. It was night and the moon was shining bright, its light creating shadows on the ground. And right in front me, someone was standing under a tree. I don't know where my assurance in all of this came from. But I just knew that I had the power of this dream.

I hastily knew it was Veronica. "I know you are there, Veronica." I said, proud of myself. Was she scared of me? I took a few steps closer. And was surprised to find fear.

"Don't come any closer." Her voice really sounded different compared to the last time we had met in her dream. I knew that I didn't have a clue how I was controlling the dream and I knew it was a risk coming closer to a mean witch. Especially one that did dark magic, but suddenly I couldn't help but come closer. Then I went to a stop when I realized something.

Veronica was scared of me seeing her face. But actually, I had already seen it once when Mrs. Terwillger had shown me a picture of her. But then, Veronica had stolen so much beauty from people that she probably looked different. Maybe that was one of the reasons to why she sucked people dry... so that she would look prettier?

But I knew that if I told her to stay away from me and Adrian, she would. Or else I would try to come closer to her. And I guess she didn't want me to.

"Okay, I won't. But listen to me carefully." I said, hardening my voice. "If you ever, ever try to take or even touch my boyfriend, I swear to god that I will kill you. Do you get it?" Behind the shadows where Veronica's face was hiding, I could see a smile twitch but then harden like she had realized something.

"And right," I said before she could say something. "Don't even think about taking my powers from me. I am really good at knowing the difference between people lying and telling the truth. And you are going to stop this stupid feud with me. My power is who I am, Veronica! And I am not going to let you take them!"

She stopped me with a hard smile. Then she brought up her arm through the shadows to brush something out of her way.

"Sydney, Sydney, Sydney. Do you think you could just create a dream and tell me what to do and not do? You are so wrong, my dear. I am really impressed with your pathetic dream. But you can't even think of competing with my powers, you fool. I see my hippie sister is not teaching you the right way. If you were in my place Sydney, you wouldn't want to…" But I had already found her weakness. She was trying to lead the conversation the other way. And I also found anger for her calling Mrs. Terwillger for a hippie. Yeah sure that she had a way of seeing things differently, but that doesn't make her a hippie.

"And do you know what? I have already seen you; I know what you used to look like. That's what it is, isn't it? You are scared of me seeing you because of what you used to look like. When I see you, I am sure I will find many differences, Veronica Terwilliger." Her smile fell.

"Or I could make it easier for you by not coming closer. And you, stop having problems with me and my boyfriend. Is that not a fair deal?"

Her lips thinned until they were nearly invisible. I knew she couldn't do anything. She was really afraid of me seeing her face. I crossed my arms and enjoyed the power I had over my dream.

"And oh, by the way. Just because I can create a dream like most witches doesn't mean that I am not scary. I can be scary as hell, and when I am, you won't even be able to recognize me. So don't even think that I am weak."

When she didn't say anything, I started to take a step closer.

"Okay, okay. I won't bother you and the vampire boy. Just don't come any closer." I stopped. Vampire boy. Did she know Adrian was a vampire? How in the earth…how much did she know about me? I shook it out of me. Maybe it was a witch thing to sense people who were vampires and not.

Suddenly I felt a feeling like something was shaking in around me. When I looked around I saw that the dream was starting to fade away. The colors were hazy. I knew that it was my last chance to say something before it faded away.

"Don't forget that I can do magic too, Veronica." And just like that, everything that I had created was gone. I guess there was a timeout with how long you could control a dream and besides it was my first time. But I had been able to tell Veronica to stay away from me and Adrian. Was she finally gone?

I sat up in the bed with a jerk. Sweat was pouring off me and I brought a hand to my head, feeling just how clammy I was.

"Careful, Sydney." Adrian said beside me and brought up a hand to my back. I opened my eyes slowly and turned my head to look into his eyes. He helped me lay back and took my hand in his.

"I started to get worried after a while. I thought something had gone wrong. Did it work? Did you find Veronica?" When I looked closer at him I could actually see how worried he had been. For how long had I been gone?

"For how long was I gone?" I said, voicing my thoughts.

"Around two hours."

I stared up at him, astonished. Was I really gone for that long?

"I think she is gone." He breathed out in relief.

He wrapped his arms around me in a loose hug, tucking his head in the crook of my neck, not seeming to care about how dirty I was right now.

"Thank god you are okay, Sage." I was surprised at first. Because he was hugging me like I had been gone for years or something. But then I hugged him back.

"It's fine, Adrian. I did it." I started to get a bit worried now. I had been so busy with my own problems that I hadn't even thought of how Adrian dealt with spirit.

Suddenly he pushed me back and looked up at me. Every thought of his was visible from his eyes. I could actually see him hiding emotions and feelings under those swirling, emerald orbs. And Adrian Ivashkov didn't like to show his real feelings to anyone. Neither did he like to worry anyone.

But this time it was something different. His eyes were really unfocused. He hadn't used spirit lately, right? Except for that one time on me...

"Adrian?" I asked him, unsure as to what I should do and put my hand on his arm carefully. No answer. "Adrian, are you here? Are you with me?" He blinked and looked up at me.

"Why are you asking me that? Of course I am with you." With my hand still on his arm, I tried to search through his eyes for the truth. Was there something he was hiding from me? He was slowly focusing back on me. When he suddenly saw my hand on his arm and my probably worried eyes, he knew something was wrong.

He pushed back my hand and tried to break the silence. "Are you okay, Sage?" And then he smiled at me. He was trying really hard but I could see the lie under that charming Ivashkov smile.

There was something I was missing and it definitely had something with spirit to do.

As I went to sleep that night, I couldn't stop worrying for so many reasons.

First, we had Veronica: I wasn't sure if she was planning something evil against me for my "excellent" behavior in my little witchy dream I had just created. Would she try a dream tonight? And right, I had created a dream. Which, by the way, was something I really wasn't used to.

Secondly, there was the "rebellion". Since my plan with Marcus hadn't worked, I was in danger. And I had no idea how to take care of this situation. But I knew that I couldn't stay in Court like everyone else thought I should. They thought I was safe here, as long as I stayed away from them. But I couldn't escape from here if all those guardians were here. Maybe I should come up with an excuse? But I had to come up with something like visiting my mum.

Thirdly, we had the problem about our relationship, which I had promised Adrian that we were going to tell everyone about when the time was right.

Finally, my mind couldn't stay away from the subject of Adrian. Was he okay? Why was he hiding something like this from me?

As I drifted into sleep with all those questions and problems, waiting for them to be solved, I wished I could go back to my old life. But I knew I couldn't. This was my new life. There was no old life to go back to. This change was irreversible.

My last thoughts before I succumbed to sleep was that I desperately needed to solve all these issues. But how could I when I didn't even know where to start?


End file.
